The Leopold Museum in Vienna was the scene of an action by the climate activists “Last Generation” yesterday. Two male members of the group showered black paint on Gustav Klimt’s painting “Death and Life” and subsequently shared a video and pictures of it on Twitter. One person has also stuck himself to the glass protecting the work. According to an inventory, the work of art was not damaged.
While the restoration team gave the picture the all-clear, the damage to the glass and safety frame, as well as the wall and floor, was “evident and significant.” Hans-Peter Wipplinger, director of the Leopold Museum, described the concerns of the climate activists as justified, “but the attack on works of art is the wrong way to achieve the targeted goal of preventing the predicted climate collapse”. On the occasion of the Leopoldi Day, there was free entry to the Leopold Museum, and OMV acted as a sponsor in this context. Despite precise controls – for example, bags had to be handed in – the activists had smuggled the liquid into the museum in a hot-water bottle under their clothing.
Weidinger offers talks
The OÖ Landes-Kultur GmbH reacted to the attacks on important works of art with a call for “togetherness” and invited climate activists to engage in dialogue. “We understood you and stand behind your concerns. Let’s work on it together, use us as a platform,” says Kultur-GmbH director Alfred Weidinger.
Source: Nachrichten
