From soup to nuts: Climate protesters jailed for ‘Sunflowers’ stunt

By Karl Mathiesen | 09/27/2024 12:11 PM EDT

“The action you took was extreme, disproportionate and criminally idiotic,” said the judge.

Senior paintings conservator Rene Boitelle works on restoring Vincent van Gogh's world-famous "Sunflowers" painting at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Senior paintings conservator René Boitelle works on restoring Vincent van Gogh's world-famous "Sunflowers" painting at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam on Jan. 23, 2019. Peter Dejong/AP

LONDON — Two Just Stop Oil climate protesters who threw soup over Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” were sentenced to prison Friday, the latest in a series of hefty punishments for activists in the U.K.

On Oct. 14, 2022, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland threw two cans of Heinz tomato soup over the masterpiece in the National Gallery in London.

Plummer, who faces several other criminal cases for protest actions, was given two years behind bars. Holland was handed 20 months.

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The painting itself was unharmed, but the 17th-century frame sustained some damage after the soup acted as paint stripper on the delicate surface. The frame was retouched and the painting was returned to display the same day.

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