A protester with environmental group Last Generation Canada has thrown pink paint at a Picasso painting at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Last Generation Canada shared footage of the incident, which took place on Thursday (19 June), showing the activist throwing bright pink paint on the artwork, L’hetaire (1901).
In the video, the protester can be seen being escorted out of the gallery at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts by security.
Via the Independent, Montreal police confirmed that an individual had been arrested, then released, and will appear in court at a later date.
The two individuals who filmed the incident were detained before being released without charge, the police said.
Through protests, Last Generation Canada is calling for the Canadian government to create a climate disaster protection agency.
The activist filmed at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, named Marcel, said in a statement: “Today, I am not attacking art, nor am I destroying it. I am protecting it.
“Art, at its core, is depictions of life. It is by the living, for the living. There is no art on a dead planet. I’m an artist, and I want to continue creating.”
Earlier this month, Greenpeace activists stole a waxwork figure of French President Emmanuel Macron from the Grévin Museum in Paris.
Environmental activists with groups like Just Stop Oil have been staging demonstrations at institutions across the world in recent years.
Radical action at museums
One Just Stop Oil supporter, Eddie Whittingham, discussed how radical action works to change public opinion and government policy at 2023’s greenloop – the sustainability in visitor attractions conference.
The climate action group announced the end of its civil resistance campaign in March of this year.
greenloop 2025 returned last month for blooloop’s fifth year of driving meaningful change via world-class speakers, cutting-edge science and practical insights.
Images courtesy of Last Generation Canada
