Climate activists glue themselves to Vincent Van Gogh oil painting at London gallery

Climate activists glued themselves to a 19th century Van Gogh painting in London to protest new oil and gas extraction.

Emily Brocklebank, 24, from Leeds and Louis McKechnie, 21, from Weymouth in Dorset, held the demonstration at the Courtauld Gallery in London on Thursday.

The pair, who are members of protest group Just Stop Oil, stuck themselves to the frame of the 1889 landscape oil painting Peach Trees in Blossom.

Ms Brocklebank, a psychology student, said she loves art but was targeting the art world because it is “focusing on the wrong things"

"We need everyone to focus on the government’s genocidal plans to allow fossil fuel companies to drill for more oil," she added. "This is one of the greatest injustices in history. We must resist.”

Mr McKechnie, who gained attention earlier this year for chaining himself to a goalpost during an Everton v Newcastle football match, said that while he has loved the painting since childhood "I love my friends and family more, I love nature more."

“The scientists are saying we need to end fossil fuel licensing and the government is pouring sand in their ears," he went on. "I’m not willing to be marched to my death by the fossil fuel companies and their government puppets."

Several Metropolitan Police officers were seen attending the scene in a video posted on the group's twitter account.

The Courtauld Gallery said the painting appears undamaged but has been removed from display to clean the glue off its frame.

"At 3.28pm on Thursday 30 June two climate protestors glued themselves to the frame of the painting Peach Trees in Blossom, 1889, by Vincent van Gogh in The Courtauld Gallery," the gallery said in a statement. 

"The painting has been removed from display. Our initial assessment is that the painting is undamaged. The frame will require treatment to remove glue residue before the work can be returned to display."

On Wednesday, five Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested for a similar stunt in Glasgow when they glued themselves to Horatio McCulloch's 19th century painting My Heart Is In The Highlands, at Kelvingrove Art Gallery.

They are also alleged to have sprayed the group’s logo on the walls and floor of the renowned gallery in orange paint.

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