Two Climate Activists Who Glued Themselves to a Raphael Painting in Germany Have Been Hit With Fines - artnet News
Two Climate Activists Who Glued Themselves to a Raphael Painting in Germany Have Been Hit With Fines
The artwork went unharmed, but the museum that owns it reported about $2,560 in property damage.
In August of last year, two members of the German environmental activist group Letzte Generation (Last Generation) entered the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden and glued their hands to the frame of Raphael’s 16th-century masterpiece, Sistine Madonna. Now, officials in the city are calling for the protestors to be punished.
The Dresden prosecutor’s office announced on July 21 that the two activists, Jakob Beyer and Maike Grunst, would be fined €1,500 ($1,600) each for the act, according to a report from the dpa German Press Agency.
While the Raphael painting went unharmed, Beyer and Grunst’s demonstration left behind traces of glue on its frame. The gallery estimated the property damage to be around €2,300 ($2,560), and reported an additional €7,000 ($7,793) in income loss for closing the facility after the incident.
Citing “damage to property that is harmful to the community,” the Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, or SKD) filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office and initiated civil proceedings for damages. Beyer and Grunst were banned from all SKD locations.
In a statement released after the demonstration, the two activists drew a connection between the climate crisis and Raphael’s painting.
“The internationally known Sistine Madonna is a powerful symbol: Mary and Jesus look to the future with fear. They look forward to Christ’s death on the cross,” Grunst said. “An equally predictable death will also be the result of climate collapse. And all over the world!”
The pair said their act was done in solidarity with fellow Letzte Generation member Christian Bläul, who had been arrested after gluing his hands to a motorway in Stockholm, Sweden a week prior. Bläul was sentenced to nine days in prison for the act.
“The climate catastrophe is an unprecedented threat of incredible proportions,” said Beyer after the Old Masters Picture Gallery demonstration. “Killer droughts, crushing heat, all-consuming forest fires: this will increase dramatically in the coming years. Not only here in Germany… But worldwide!”
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Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”