Extremists deface $110 million Monet painting and King Charles' likeness in latest instances of eco-iconoclasm, funded by Beverly Hills-based climate alarmism group
Anti-oil extremists' defacements of a Claude Monet painting in Germany and a waxwork of King Charles in London are the latest two in a string of attacks on famous works of art. The vandals responsible, like others before them, demanded an end to oil discovery and production amid an energy crisis in Europe, which is prompting some to hoard wood and burn manure to survive the coming winter.
The groups responsible have both been funded by the Beverly Hills-based Climate Emergency Fund, which is cultivating an army of "climate activists."
German iconoclasm
On Sunday, two German vandals threw mashed potatoes at a painting in the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, southeast of Berlin.
The oil painting they targeted was Monet's "Grainstacks," an impressionist work depicting the stacks of hay that stood near the artist's house in Giverny. Reuters reported that the painting sold at auction in 2019 for $110.7 million. It is on permanent display in the Museum Barberini, on loan from the Hasso Plattner Foundation.
The vandals glued their hands to the wall beneath the painting after having thrown the food.
The National Post reported that four people were involved in the attack and that those responsible were subsequently arrested.
The Museum Barberini noted on Twitter that an "immediate conservation investigation showed that [the painting] was not damaged in any way," since it had been set behind protective glass.
Museum director Ortrud Westheider responded in a statement saying, "While I understand the activists’ urgent concern in the face of the climate catastrophe, I am shocked by the means with which they are trying to lend weight to their demands."
Concerning a previous incident, the German Cultural Council's managing director, Olaf Zimmermann, said, "The works put in danger are part of world cultural heritage and deserve to be protected as well as our climate."
Zimmermann also noted that the risk of "damaging the artworks is very high."
Letzte Generation
The vandals who claimed responsibility for the attack on Monet's 132-year-old painting are affiliated with the extremist group called "Last Generation." They claimed the vandalism was a reminder "that the fossil fuel course is killing us all."
Last Generation claims on its website, "We still have two to three years in which we can still leave the fossil path of annihilation."
The climate extremist group Last Generation also had two of its members recently glue themselves to the frame of Raffael's "Sistine Madonna" painting at the Gemaldegalerie Museum in Dresden, Germany, on Aug. 23.
The extremists responsible for the Sunday art attack in Germany stated, "People are starving, people are freezing, people are dying. We are in a climate catastrophe and all you are afraid of is tomato soup or mashed potatoes on a painting. You know what I'm afraid of? I’m afraid because science tells us that we won’t be able to feed our families in 2050."
In his recent book "How the World Really Works," scientist and policy analyst Vaclav Smil noted how fossil fuels are absolutely critical when it comes to feeding, warming, and nurturing humanity.
Ending oil production, as the vandals demand, would have profound consequences, not the least on all those who may no longer be able to heat their homes in the winter or cool them in the summer.
Although elsewhere advocating for a gradual transition off of oil, Smil noted, "Our food supply — be it staple grains, clucking birds, favorite vegetables, or seafood praised for its nutritious quality — has become increasingly dependent on fossil fuels."
Smil also indicated that "after adding the energy requirements of food processing and marketing, packaging, transportation, wholesale and retail services, household food storage and preparation, and away-from-home food and marketing services, the grand total in the US [of the direct energy use in food production] reached nearly 16 percent of the nation's energy supply in 2007 and now it is approaching 20 percent."
British iconoclasm
On Monday morning, Just Stop Oil extremists went to Madame Tussauds in London and smashed a chocolate cake into the wax likeness of King Charles.
The vandals responsible, 20-year-old Eilidh McFadden from Glasgow, Scotland, and 29-year-old Tom Johnson from Sunderland, England, stated, "The demand is simple: Just stop new oil and gas. It's a piece of cake."
The extremist group Just Stop Oil is committed to taking part in "NonViolent Direct Action targeting the UK's oil and gas infrastructure should the Government fail to meet our demand by 14 March 2022."
The Mirror reported that four people were arrested for criminal damage, including McFadden and Johnson.
Wasting food and glue
These attacks resemble several others committed in recent weeks.
On Oct. 14, two female climate extremists belonging to the group called Just Stop Oil were arrested for throwing tomato soup at a Vincent van Gogh painting "Sunflowers") in the National Gallery in London. After defacing the artwork, they glued themselves to the wall.
Both extremists demanded that the British government cease all new oil and gas projects.
Just Stop Oil Supporters throw Soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers | 14 October 2022 #shortsyoutu.be
On October 19, anti-oil extremists affiliated with "Scientist Rebellion" glued their hands to the floor of a Volkswagen exhibit in Wolfsburg, Germany.
One of the climate extremists suggested that so-called climate change was leading to floods and storms, rendering some regions of the world uninhabitable.
Climate Emergency Fund
Both Just Stop Oil and the Last Generation receive funding from the Climate Emergency Fund, on whose board sits Adam McKay, a Hollywood director and screenwriter; Aileen Getty, the American actress from the ultra-rich Getty oil family; Rory Kennedy, the youngest child of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy; and other wealthy climate alarmists.
The CEF has indicated that so far this year it has "made $4 million in grants to 30 brave, ultra-ambitious groups."
It is unclear whether the CEF could be held partly responsible if any of its grantees were to irreparably damage energy infrastructure or beloved artwork.
