After numerous attacks by climate activists on world-famous works of art, the work of art “Death and Life” by the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt has now also been hit. The picture survived the attack unscathed, says the museum director and speaks of the action as a “wrong way”.
Climate activists poured oil on a glass-protected painting by Gustav Klimt in Vienna’s Leopold Museum. The “Last Generation” group, which is also active in Germany, posted a video on Twitter in which a member hurled the black liquid against the famous work “Death and Life”. One of the activists then stuck his hand to the protective glass. “Fortunately, the artwork was not damaged,” said the museum’s director, Hans-Peter Wipplinger.
Nevertheless, these actions cause damage to the museum scene when he thinks of the worried long-term lenders, Wipplinger said. The activists would have to pay for the cleaning and the deployment of the police. He expects a five-digit amount. “This is the wrong way to achieve a rethink in the general public,” said the director. If the masterpiece had actually been damaged, the consequences for the activists would be hard to imagine. Just a few days ago, a Klimt painting was sold at an auction in New York for more than 100 million euros.
The activists referred to the Austrian oil and gas group OMV, which supported an open day at the Leopold Museum. “People still exploring and drilling for new oil and gas have blood on their hands – sponsorship can’t wash that away,” they wrote on Twitter. From Wipplinger’s point of view, there is nothing to shake about the cooperation with OMV. Without this support, for example, many visits by school classes would not be possible.
Climate activists have attacked several famous works of art in European museums since October alone. For example, three climate activists were arrested after an attack on the world-famous painting “The Girl with a Pearl Earring” (1665-1667) by Johannes Vermeer in the Mauritshuis art museum in the Netherlands. In the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, a man and a woman pour mashed potatoes onto Claude Monet’s painting “Grainstacks” (1890), which is protected by a glass pane. The climate protest group “Last Generation” took responsibility.