Van Gogh’s iconic work desecrated in Hamburg

 

HAMBURG- Visitors to the Museum of the St Pauli football club in Hamburg threw mashed potato at a reprint of Vincent van Gogh’s painting “Fifteen Sunflowers” during an action as part of the Long Night of Museums in the city.

TV celebrity chef Ole Plogstedt, who was involved in the action, said he wanted to provoke a discussion about the goals and means of Last Generation climate activists. “How far may – how far must – protest go in view of the dramatic climate situation? Does the climate movement go too far in pelting works of art with mashed potato or sticking themselves to picture frames in museums – or are the reactions to them exaggerated?” he said.

Hamburg, in common with other German cities, uses the annual Long Night of Museums to promote culture in all its forms. Museums and other venues stay open late into the night, and stage special exhibitions and events.

In recent months, climate activists of the Last Generation have attracted attention in Germany with numerous spectacular actions in museums.

In the Hamburg Kunsthalle, for example, security staff stopped activists from plans to apply glue and put up an alternative work.

Two activists wanted to paste over the safety glass of the iconic painting “The Wanderer over the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) with a modified picture they had brought with them. It showed the wanderer against an apocalyptic background instead of a foggy one.