Just Stop Oil protesters have smashed the glass covering a painting on display at the National Gallery in a nod to the Suffragettes who attacked the same artwork more than 100 years ago.
Two protesters from the environmental activist group entered Room 30 of the London museum on Monday. They struck The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus) using what appeared to be emergency rescue hammers, or shatter hammers.
The room was cleared and the police were called, where they arrested the two people on suspicion of criminal damage.
Just Stop Oil named the protesters as Hanan, 22, and Harrison, 20, and said their actions were to demand the government immediately halt all new oil and gas projects in the UK.
The painting, which was created by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez in the mid-17th century, was removed from display and is currently being examined by conservators. Room 30 was reopened just after 12.30pm with A Dead Soldier replacing The Toilet of Venus.
But the artwork has history as a site of political activism. In March 1914, the painting was first slashed by suffragette Mary Richardson using a meat cleaver, following the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst.
Speaking immediately after smashing the painting, Hanan said: “Women did not get the vote by voting; it is time for deeds not words. It is time to Just Stop Oil.”
Harrison added: “Politics is failing us. Politics failed women in 1914. Millions will die due to new oil and gas licenses. Millions. If we love history, if we love art, and if we love our families, we must Just Stop Oil.”
Footage shared on social media showed the pair delivering their speeches, before they were made to sit on the floor where they clasped their hands together in solidarity. “They don’t care about us, they don’t care about our futures,” Hanan said.
“The Suffragettes slashed this very picture a hundred years ago,” Harrison shouted, as security moved the camera operator out of the room.
On Instagram, Just Stop Oil wrote: “Today, our government revealed plans for MORE oil licences, knowing full when it will kill millions. In response, two supporters of Just Stop Oil smashed the Rokeby Venus — previously slashed by suffragette, Mary Richardson in 1914.”
The group then encouraged their followers to attend the organisation’s next meeting, writing: “It’s time for deeds, not words.”
Formed in 2022, Just Stop Oil rose to prominence in October 2022 with the vandalism of another artwork, when two activists threw tomato soup on Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. The painting itself was undamaged, and remains one of the most popular paintings in the National Gallery.
The group has previously run campaigns under the tagline: “No art on a dead planet.”
Just Stop Oil is currently staging a new series of protest actions, with more expected in the coming weeks. On Wednesday (1 November), 23 people were charged after blocking Earl’s Court Road, with a total of 98 people arrested and 54 charged in connection with Just Stop Oil protests in London last week.
