Explainer-in-brief: Just Stop… Sunflower Oil?
The environmental protesters at Just Stop Oil reached the highest level of creativity last week by taking their cause to the art world. They threw soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s acclaimed “Sunflowers” painting in the National Gallery and then glued themselves to the wall.
“What is worth more, art or life? … Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?”, they said to explain their unusual use of tomato soup.
It’s easier to agree with the cause than to sympathise with the methods. The aim of any protest is to cause disruption to catch as much attention as possible, but trashing a globally beloved masterpiece seems a bit of a far-fetched way forward.
If anyone is wondering about the link between fossil fuels and Van Gogh, you can go ask them yourself: Just Stop Oil will be out of Downing Street at 11am every day of this month.