Actors of the “Last Generation” glued themselves to the frame of the “Sistine Madonna”. However, the misuse of epochal works of art cannot be the way out of the climate crisis. On the contrary, he causes incomprehension and frustration about the endless reminders.
The Scrovegni Chapel in Padua houses a cultural treasure of humanity, an epochal work. It is a biblical fresco cycle that Giotto created between 1304 and 1306. The painter freed his figures from the rigidity of the Gothic and gave them individual facial features that betray strong emotions. Tears are depicted there for the first time in art history. Giotto thus pointed the way to the Renaissance.
In order to preserve the murals that survived the Second World War – Padua was bombed from the air – for future generations, the number of visitors is drastically restricted. Each guest is only allowed to stay in the chapel for 15 minutes. Last Sunday, three climate activists treated themselves to half an hour. Two chained themselves to the balustrade that prevents them from getting too close to the walls. A third showed a placard that read ‘Last generation no gas and no coal’.
The three young men justified their choice of Giotto’s frescoes as a place of protest with reference to the apocalypse: “In his wonderful work he tried to teach humanity how to live in order to save itself.” The Last Judgment only knows the good and the bad guys. The heaven-or-hell approach doesn’t allow any differentiation. It thus fits in with the sharp friend-foe scheme of the “last generation”. After half an hour the spook was over, the frescoes fortunately suffered no damage.
Yesterday, Tuesday, two actors from the “Last Generation” glued themselves to the frame of Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna”, one of the most famous Renaissance paintings of all and the highlight of the Dresden “Old Masters” collection. A protester, like the supporters in Padua, also pointed to the expectation of the apocalypse: “Mary and Jesus look to the future with fear. They look forward to Christ’s death on the cross with horror. A death that is just as predictable will also be the result of the climate collapse the whole world!”
Art historically, that’s nonsense. At the original location of the painting in a monastery church in Piacenza, northern Italy, the eyes of Mary and the child were directed straight at a crucifix. They referred to Christ’s destiny to help people to salvation and not to end up in purgatory. The bold little angels at the bottom of the picture, probably the best-known painted messengers of God in the world, represent a connection to the earth. In contrast to the actors of the “last generation”, they are down-to-earth.
The testimony of the prostrate is significant, seeing the approaching end of the world everywhere – even in the eyes of the “Sistine Madonna”. Since actors of the “Last Generation” repeatedly reveal education in interviews, it can be assumed that they knew that the frame was a creation modeled on the Renaissance period. It was presented to the public for the first time in 2012 – 500 years earlier Raphael had received the commission for the work in Rome. Art-historical damage is, thank God, not to be lamented in Dresden either, the material damage should be limited.
Nevertheless, it is a nasty process to tamper with the painting – in the truest sense of the word. It is disrespectful and shows that climate advocates have lost all sense of proportion, earning them a reputation for being hysterical. The ignorance of these people who want to save the world but live in a microcosm is amazing. It’s not as if the population, politicians, the economy, science, culture, administration etc. don’t know anything about climate change and its dangers or don’t give a damn about it. Every day, the news provides evidence and evidence of the consequences of global warming for humanity.
The fact that the Greens made it into government as Germany’s number one climate protection party is no coincidence, but is based on enough votes. Robert Habeck, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, would certainly like nothing better than to implement measures against global warming instead of driving around the world asking some sheikh for gas because Russia has invaded Ukraine.
It’s definitely not that nobody wants to do something, as the “Last Generation” keeps implying. But every concept has to have a sense of proportion and fit in with national and international developments. “No gas and no coal” – what if nuclear power is also rejected and there is a lack of wind and solar systems? Right now, people are not worried about whether they will be hit by the apocalypse, but whether they will survive the winter financially. If the economy slips, we will have an army of unemployed, which would lead to social and political upheaval and would be devastating for climate protection.
Protests like those in Padua and Dresden do exactly the opposite. The more the apocalypse is conjured up, the greater the incomprehension and frustration at the eternal warnings. Regardless, doomsday believers, like conspiracy believers, move in a bubble in which they alone are the yardstick of all things and all action. They break the law, keep the police, who have enough to do, from more important tasks and complain when earthly justice prosecutes them.
The behavior of the public is also strange. The Dresden State Art Collections, to which the “Old Masters” belong, only condemned the action a day later – and only at the request of MDR Kultur and not in an official statement. The MDR was full of understanding in a comment. It said: “Perhaps the climate protest in the Dresden picture gallery could have been even more radical.” And further: “Banksy would have stuck his hand on the face of the Madonna.” Please do not! The misuse of epochal works of art or even their destruction before the world ends cannot be the way out of the climate crisis.