A Public Canvas for Protest: Just Stop Oil activism in The National Gallery

By Sarah Knight

On 14th October 2022, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers were adorned with a new hue of orange as two Just Stop Oil protesters threw tomato soup over the glass screen protecting the work in protest of oil and gas exploration. This follows multiple acts of protest by the group over the summer months, including another incident in the National Gallery in July involving Constable’s The Hay Wain. While these protests were declared acts of disruption - not destruction - the initial shock gave way to diverse discussions of potential motives, messages and meaning – exactly as was intended.

Just Stop Oil protesters after throwing soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in October 2022. Credit: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian

While the protest was primarily aimed against new governmental oil and gas exploration, it was further contextualised within the current energy crisis, with the protesters commenting that many families “can’t even afford to heat a tin of soup”. Labelled as everything from vandalism to desperate bravery, this act of protest has triggered a greater discussion. While opinions evidently vary on the particulars of this protest, there appears an overwhelming consensus in support of Just Stop Oil’s message of the worsening climate crisis; the problem seems to lie in the conveyance of this message. Beyond the initial shock factor, what was the explicit statement of this act? And with this the questions are posed: why these works and, at that, why art at all?

Just Stop Oil protesters glued to Constable’s The Hay Wain in July 2022. Credit: Kirsty O’Connor/PA Wire

The prominence, value and content of both Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Constable’s The Hay Wain all provide motive. The natural subject matter of The Hay Wain was directly addressed by the protesters who, before gluing themselves to its frame, covered the work with an apocalyptic version of the scene, displaying a future in which such idyllic landscapes could no longer exist. We were briefly presented a vision of a decimated future layered over this idealised notion of the past, one which we are losing beyond the point of redemption in our current state of inaction. This previous protest in the gallery was arguably more descriptive, though the message may also apply to Sunflowers. The prioritisation of shock over explanation in the case of the latter exemplifies a feeling of necessity for escalation. And we must admit, the momentary apparent destruction of the famous work did indeed elevate the public spectacle. Such reactions of horror were intended – it encouraged an introspective questioning of why we are so offended by the potential destruction of a painting of nature while we continue actively to destroy our natural world. Are we becoming so accustomed to the news of the climate crisis, of resultant natural disasters, and further human loss that we are more shocked by the defacement of a painting?

This encouraged inversion of priority has a place within a wider narrative of climate activism. Using these works as a public canvas, the protesters were making a statement: they’re fighting for the realisation that we cannot allow ourselves to reach a reality in which our experience of nature resides in a frame, but it will if we do not act.

Bibliography

Gayle, Damien. ‘Just Stop Oil activists throw soup at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers,’ 14 October 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/14/just-stop-oil-activists-throw-soup-at-van-goghs-sunflowers

Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil). ‘JUST STOP OIL SUPPORTERS CHOOSE LIFE OVER ART’ Twitter, 14 October 2022, 12:28 p.m. https://twitter.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1580883249228046336?s=20&t=x0HvtkQci8bXDeUjY0EFQw

Mould, Oli. ‘Three arguments why Just Stop Oil was right to target Van Gogh’s Sunflowers,’ 17 October 2022. https://theconversation.com/three-arguments-why-just-stop-oil-was-right-to-target-van-goghs-sunflowers-192661

Telegraph Reporters. ‘Constable masterpiece The Hay Wain damaged in Just Stop Oil protest,’ 4 July 2022. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/04/just-stop-oil-protesters-john-constable-painting-hay-wain/