Climate activists throw liquid at Klimt painting in Vienna

Activists take part in a protest during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 8. (Image: Reuters)

BERLIN — Climate activists in Austria on Tuesday attacked a famous painting by artist Gustav Klimt with a black, oily liquid and one then glued himself to the painting’s frame.

Members of the group Last Generation Austria said on Twitter they had attacked the 1915 painting “Death and Life” at the Leopold Museum in Vienna to protest their government’s use of fossil energies.

After throwing the liquid on the painting — which was not damaged because it was behind a glass cover — one activist was pushed away by a museum guard while another glued his hand to the painting’s frame.

On Twitter the group defended the protest, saying that they were protesting “oil and gas drilling,” which they called “a death sentence to society.”

The Leopold Museum could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Klimt painting is the latest artwork to be targeted by climate activists to draw attention to global warming.

Different activist groups have staged numerous demonstrations in recent months, including blocking streets and throwing mashed potatoes at a Claude Monet painting in Germany.

The British group Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in London’s National Gallery last month.

Just Stop Oil activists also glued themselves to the frame of an early copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, and to John Constable’s “The Hay Wain” in the National Gallery.