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CLIMATE CRISIS

Climate activists hurl pea soup at Van Gogh painting in Rome

A group of activists on Friday threw pea soup at a Vincent Van Gogh masterpiece in Rome, in a protest that they warned will continue until more attention is paid to climate change.

Published: 4 November 2022 16:07 CET
Van Gogh
Activists from Italy's environmental group Last Generation threw soup at Van Gogh's 'The Sower' on Friday. Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP

Activists from Italian environmental group Last Generation threw pea soup at 1888 masterpiece ‘The Sower’, displayed at Rome’s Palazzo Bonaparte.

‘The Sower’, depicting a farmer sowing his land under a dominating sun, was exhibited behind glass and remained undamaged, according to news reports.

All four individuals involved in the attack were arrested.

Climate activists from Last Generation said the demonstration was “a desperate and scientifically grounded cry that cannot be understood as mere vandalism”.

READ ALSO: Why are protesters glueing themselves to Italian artworks?

“Non-violent direct action will continue until citizens get answers from their government on the demands to stop gas and coal and to invest in at least 20 GW of renewables,” they added.

A series of attacks by Last Generation and other environmental groups have involved throwing soup, cake or mashed potatoes at prestigious paintings by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Claude Monet, Vermeer and Van Gogh.

In October, the group Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup over Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ at London’s National Gallery. That painting, also protected by glass, was undamaged.

“Everything that we would have the right to see in our present and our future is being obscured by a real and imminent catastrophe, just as this pea puree has covered the work in the fields…” Last Generation said in its statement on Friday.

Italy’s culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, promptly denounced the protest, calling it an “ignoble act that must be strongly condemned”.

“Culture, which is the basis of our identity, should be defended and protected, certainly not used as a megaphone for other forms of protest,” Sangiuliano said in a statement.

‘The Sower’ is on show at Rome’s Palazzo Bonaparte and is part of an exhibition of 50 paintings by the Dutch master on loan from the Kroller Muller museum in Otterlo.

The exhibition organisers, Arthemisia, did not immediately respond to a request for more information on the attack.

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ENVIRONMENT

OPINION: Why Italy lags behind Europe on green policies – and things aren’t changing

With climate protests by young Italians and talk of clean energy policy, will Italy finally change its ways and catch up with other European countries? Silvia Marchetti argues a much bigger cultural shift is needed before Italy could truly go green.

Published: 16 May 2024 10:50 CEST
OPINION: Why Italy lags behind Europe on green policies - and things aren't changing

There’s a lot of talk about environmental-friendly practices and spreading awareness on climate change, but I must admit Italians are perhaps the least eco-conscious of all Europeans. 

We struggle to keep up with the rest of Europe. From buying more bottled water than almost any other country to repeatedly delaying a ‘plastic tax’ and dumping on beaches and in parks, it’s part of a general cultural attitude which has very little ‘green’ in it, even though the pandemic and soaring energy costs have pushed a minority of Italians to become perhaps a bit more careful. 

Too many Italians just have that ‘che me ne frega’ approach (meaning ‘I really don’t care’), which gets on my nerves and is quite ingrained in the general mentality. 

When I used to live in Holland back in 2002, there were drinking water fountains everywhere, people filled their own portable insulated bottles which were not made of plastic, and which seemed to me so cool and fashionable.

While in Rome we have the famous fontanoni (historical water spouts), locals either use their hands to drink, or still buy glass and plastic cups and bottles to fill and then throw away. 

When it comes to recycling waste, only half of Italy does it properly, while the Baltic countries are the most efficient waste-wise among the 27 members of the European Union. 

I live north of Rome, in the countryside, and differentiated waste disposal services arrived in my comune just six years ago, while at my seaside house south of the capital, this happened only last year. In Rotterdam, where I lived during university, citizens had been recycling waste since at least a decade earlier. 

READ ALSO: Why Trento is ranked as Italy’s ‘greenest’ place to live

Some 25 years ago, when I was in Geneva, people walking their dogs would scoop up their pets’ poo with recyclable gloves and place it in neat plastic bags; that’s something you’d see hardly anyone do even nowadays in Italy.

I’m at times ashamed of saying so, but we have really bad habits – like keeping the tap water running even when you don’t need it, such as during one-hour showers or while brushing teeth, turning the lights on at night in the garden when everyone is at home and no guests are expected, and buying endless motorini (scooters) for the kids and then one car per adult family member.

The Italian love of cars results in heavy traffic and dangerous levels of pollution – but will this ever change? (Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP)

I think this is all due to the fact that most Italians are very showy, even in energy consumption. Keeping house lights or car usage down to a minimum would imply to neighbors a state of precarious wealth, if not almost poverty. 

There’s another factor that plays a major role. Italy, as opposed to other European countries, has always heavily relied on gas and oil consumption, not on alternative green energy that still sounds quite futuristic. This dependency on fossil fuels will likely lead to our demise if we don’t act.

READ ALSO: Italians and their cars are inseparable – will this ever change?

The post-pandemic funds given by the European Union should boost investments in alternative and green energy, but the effects will only be seen in the long run.

In order to have a positive impact, the money must be efficiently spent. Almost 37 percent of a total €191 billion of European aid is expected to go into funding green investments in Italy over the next few years. 

But it all reads very vague at the moment, and I’m afraid the Italian approach might change only slightly, no matter the ambitious government plans. It’s more wishful thinking. 

In the rest of Europe children are taught about climate change and how to adopt good practices in everyday life. I have friends in Belgium whose kids read about recycling plastic and reducing weekly the number of plastic water bottles they buy.

READ ALSO: What is it with Italians and bottled water?

In order to have a radical change in Italians’ attitudes, environmental awareness must be spread inside schools and among children. It really depends on the future generations.

The younger generations, born in an era already marred by environmental damage, are the only ones in Italy who can really ‘go green’ in everything they do and consume.

Recent protests by student climate change activists in Italy, even if small compared to those staged across Europe, are a sign of a changing mentality among youth.

But in order to further spread awareness, a more pro-environmental education is paramount.

Unfortunately though, there is no political debate around improving education on environmental issues in Italy, mainly due to a lack of political wisdom or forward-looking strategy.

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