Just Stop Oil activists guilty of criminal damage after throwing tinned soup over Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers

25 July 2024, 14:39 | Updated: 25 July 2024, 15:09

Two Just Stop Oil activists have been found guilty of criminal damage after throwing tinned soup over Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers.

Anna Holland and Phoebe Plummer, both 22, were found guilty of criminal damage at Southwark Crown Court after the incident on October 14, 2022.

The duo chucked Heinz tinned soup over the masterpiece at the National Gallery in central London, risking "serious damage" to the painting, the court heard.

They then glued themselves to the wall of the gallery and damaged the 17th century Italian frame the artwork had been housed in.

The 1888 oil-on-canvas painting itself was protected by a glass cover, Southwark Crown Court heard.

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The pair were heard to have initially dressed as normal visitors and waited for a space to appear around Van Gogh’s painting.

They then removed their jackets to reveal Just Stop Oil-branded T-shirts, and emptied two tins of soup on the artwork.

The two subsequently glued their hands to the walls next to the painting.

Plummer was heard to have said in front of the painting: "What is worth more, art or life? Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice?

"Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people? The cost-of-living crisis is part of the cost-of-oil crisis."

The protesters were later seen being bundled into a police van at the back entrance of the gallery.

Visitors, meanwhile, were escorted out by security, who then shut the doors to the room where the painting hangs.

Having denied the charge, Plummer, from Clapham, and Holland, of Newcastle, were found guilty by a jury at Southwark Crown Court.

A number of Just Stop Oil supporters were present in the court room as the verdict was delivered.

Painted in Arles in the south of France in August 1888, van Gogh's painting shows fifteen sunflowers standing in a yellow pot against a yellow background.

The priceless work was the second from the National Gallery to be selected as a target for protest action by Just Stop Oil in 2022, with two supporters glueing themselves to John Constable's The Hay Wain in July of that year.

Judge Christopher Hehir - who last week jailed the co-founder of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion for five years at the same court - told the duo they will be released on bail until they are sentenced on September 27 at the same court.

Their bail conditions stipulate that they must not carry glue, paint or any adhesive substance in a public place, and must not visit any galleries or museums.

It comes after a further ten Just Stop Oil activists suspected of planning to disrupt Heathrow Airport were arrested on Wednesday, police said.

Seven people were detained in the vicinity of the airport and taken into custody. Cutting gear and glue were found on the activists, the Metropolitan Police said.

Three others were arrested at other locations, also on suspicion of conspiring to interfere with a site of key national infrastructure under the Public Order Act. They all remain in custody.

None of the activists was able to get into the airport, the force added.