Vermeer’s ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’ Is the Latest Work Targeted by Climate Activists

Johannes Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring is the latest famed artwork to be targeted by climate protesters.

Two demonstrators wearing t-shirts reading ‘Just Stop Oil,’ the name of the U.K. group that recently threw tomato soup on a Van Gogh painting in London’s National Gallery, staged a protest at the Mauritshuis Museum in the Hague today (Oct. 27).

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One of the men glued his head to the glass layer protecting Vermeer’s painting, before a can of red liquid was poured on his head, according to videos of the incident.

BREEK – Meisje met de parel van Johannes Vermeer besmeurd in #Mauritshuis. pic.twitter.com/XzAZTOoBv9

— Steven Bakker (@Kolpen) October 27, 2022

“How do you feel when you see something beautiful and priceless being apparently destroyed before your eyes? Do you feel outraged? Good,” said one of the demonstrators. “Where is that feeling when you see the climate being destroyed before our very eyes?”

Museum-goers reacted in shock, with one attendee shouting “Shame on you.” Three arrests were made at the museum, as reported by Reuters.