A climate activist in Paris stuck a protest poster on Monet's 'Poppy Field' - The Seattle Times
A climate activist in Paris stuck a protest poster on Monet’s ‘Poppy Field’ | The Seattle Times
PARIS (AP) — An environmental activist was detained Saturday after sticking a protest sign to a Monet painting in Paris’ famed Orsay Museum.
It was the latest of several actions by protesters with the group Food Riposte to target artworks in France in calls for action to protect food supplies from further damage to the climate. The museum, known in French as the Musée d’Orsay, is a top tourist destination and home to some of the world’s most-loved Impressionist works.
The activist targeted “Poppy Field” by Claude Monet, affixing a sticker that covered about half the painting with an apocalyptic, futuristic vision of the same scene. The group said it’s supposed to show what the field would look like in 2100, “ravaged by flames and drought,” if more action isn’t taken against climate change.
The woman was detained pending investigation, according to Paris police.
It was unclear whether the incident damaged the painting. The museum did not respond to requests for comment.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.