Two people deny criminal damage after soup thrown on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting

The pleaded not guilty to the offences and were released on bail

Two people have been charged after throwing soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.

Anna Holland, 20, from Newcastle, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, from Lambeth, south-west London, both pleaded not guilty to causing criminal damage to the frame of Van Gogh's painting, at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Saturday morning.

Protesters, wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts, threw two tins of Heinz Tomato soup over the 1888 work Sunflowers shortly after 11am on Friday, before kneeling down in front of the painting and appearing to glue their hands to the wall beneath it.

Tomato soup covered the image, which is covered by glass, as well as parts of the golden frame.

Visitors were escorted out by security, who then shut the doors to room 43 of the gallery where the painting hangs.

Prosecutor Ola Oyedepo told the court the pair threw the “orange substance” knowing there was a “protective case” over the painting, but said damage was caused to the frame.

Ms Oyedepo said it was unclear the value of the damage caused but said it was “significantly below the £5,000 cost threshold”.

She said the pair “did not damage the picture because the picture is worth millions”.

District judge Tan Irkam released the pair on bail on the condition they do not enter galleries or museums and do not have paint or adhesive substances in a public place.

Just Stop Oil supporters spray paint sign at New Scotland Yard (Just Stop Oil)

One of the activists said after Friday’s incident involving the Van Gogh painting: “What is worth more, art or life? Is it worth more than food? Worth more than justice?

“Are you more concerned about the protection of a painting, or the protection of our planet and people? The cost of living crisis is part of the cost of oil crisis.”

Meanwhile, Lora Johnson, 38, from Southwold, Suffolk, pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal damage at the same court after paint was sprayed onto the New Scotland Yard sign.

The charges follow a spate of protests by Just Stop Oil across central London where activists have glued themselves to the pavement along Pall Mall and Knightsbridge, in a similar style to Insulate Britain whose protests grated the public by stopping traffic on busy roads.

Friday marked the 14th day of “continuous disruption” by the environmental protest group.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Officers were rapidly on scene at the National Gallery this morning after two Just Stop Oil protesters threw a substance over a painting and then glued themselves to a wall.

Just Stop Oil of protesters occupying roads around Southwark in London (PA)

“Both have been arrested for criminal damage and aggravated trespass.”

The Van Gogh painting was put back on display on Friday afternoon, the National Gallery confirmed.

Painted in Arles in the south of France in August 1888, the painting shows fifteen sunflowers standing in a yellow pot against a yellow background.

It is the second, more famous, Van Gogh painting to be targeted by the group, with two climate activists glueing themselves to his 1889 Peach Trees in Blossom, exhibited at the Courtauld Gallery, at the end of June.

Protesters also glued themselves to their own “reimagined version” of John Constable’s The Hay Wain at the National Gallery in July - the same month a 500-year-old copy of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Summer in London’s Royal Academy was targeted by the group.

The pair alleged to have damaged the Van Gogh painting have their trial set for 13 December at City of London Magistrates' Court.