Two men throw soup on Vincent van Gogh's iconic 'Sunflowers' painting, artwork back on display after 6 hrs

Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ painting was almost destroyed after climate protesters threw soup over it in London’s National Gallery on Friday. The work is one of several versions of 'Sunflowers' that Van Gogh painted in the late 1880s.

The group was protesting fossil fuel extraction, but caused no damage to the glass-covered painting. The painting, one of Gogh's famous Sunflowers, is back on display after it was cleaned following the soup tragedy on Friday.

It took about six hours to get the painting back on the display, as per reports. As per the footage, two people in Just Stop Oil T-shirts opened tins and threw the contents on the masterpiece before glueing their hands on the wall.

The group Just Stop Oil, which wants the British government to halt new oil and gas projects, said activists dumped two cans of tomato soup over the oil painting, one of the Dutch artist’s most iconic works.

The soup splashed across the glass covering the painting and its gilded frame. According to a report in AP, the gallery said there is some minor damage to the frame but the painting is unharmed.

London’s Metropolitan Police informed that officers arrested two people on suspicion of criminal damage and aggravated trespass. “Specialist officers have now un-glued them and they have been taken into custody to a central London police station,” the police said in a statement.

A group of protesters from the same group later gathered at police headquarters and sprayed yellow paint over the rotating “New Scotland Yard” sign in front of it.

Just Stop Oil has drawn attention, and criticism, for targeting artworks in museums. In July, Just Stop Oil activists 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.

The wave of demonstrations comes as the British government opens a new licensing round for North Sea oil and gas exploration, despite criticism from environmentalists and scientists who say the move undermines the country’s commitment to fighting climate change.