They recall that they are spaces “free of dialogue and communication” and denounce the danger of attacks on their artworks. The authors of the attacks “underestimate the fragility of irreplaceable works of world cultural heritage”
The heads of the world’s major museums, nearly a hundred, have signed a joint statement against vandalism denouncing and deploring the attacks on icons of universal art that have taken place in their institutions over the past month. Some actions that, in the name of different movements and demands, focused on works such as ‘Las Majas’ by Goya, ‘Sunflowers’ and ‘El sembrado’ by Van Gogh, or ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Vermeer.
“In recent weeks, there have been several attacks on works of art in international museums. Responsible activists underestimate the fragility of these irreplaceable works of World Cultural Heritage that must be preserved,” they said in a joint statement. “As directors and directors of museums responsible for the works, their dangerousness has touched us deeply,” they specify.
“Museums are places where people from different backgrounds can enter into a dialogue with each other and thus enable social discourse. In this sense, the central tasks of the museum as an institution (collecting, researching, sharing and preserving) are now more relevant than ever,” explains those responsible for institutions such as the Prado, the Thyssen, the Reina Sofía or the Guggenheim in Bilbao in Spain; the MoMA, the Metropolitan or the Guggenheim in New York; the Louvre and the Picasso in Paris; the National Gallery and British Museum in London; or that of the Ufizzi in Florence. “We will immediately continue to address access to cultural heritage and we will maintain the museum as a free space for social communication,” they say in the text protecting the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
The statement comes after two activists from the climate organization Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies painted and pasted pictures of Andy Warhols Campbell’s soup cans in the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) on Sunday. So they asked the Australian government to stop supporting the oil, gas and coal industries.
Last Saturday, two activists from the Spanish organization Futuro Vegetal taped the frames of Goya’s ‘Las majas’ paintings in the Prado Museum in Madrid, slightly damaged them and painted large ‘1.5º’ characters on the wall.
His protests are added to those of recent weeks, such as that of two environmentalists from Just Oil who threw tomato soup at Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ in the National Gallery in London, or that of Dutch environmentalists who did the same with ‘The girl with the pearl’ by Johannes Vermeer, the star work of the Mauritshuis in The Hague. Other supporters of the last generation threw mashed potatoes at a painting by Claude Monet in the Barberini Museum in Potsdam, near Berlin, and young Italian activists threw mashed potatoes at Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Sower’, which is on display at a temporary exhibition in Rome.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has not hesitated to describe these attacks as “eco-terrorism”.
Evelio Acevedo, General Director, National Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Elina Antitila, Director General, National Museum of Finland, Helsinki
Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York
Agustín Arteaga, Director, Dallas Museum of Art
László Baán, General Director, Museum of Fine Arts – Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Sebastian Baden, Director, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt
Séverine Berger, director, Musée de l’Annonciade, Saint-Tropez
Claire Bernardi, Director, Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris
Konrad Bitterli, director, Kunstmuseum Winterthur
Andreas Blühm, General Director, Groninger Museum
Frédéric Bußmann, General Manager, Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz
Manuel Borja-Villel, Director, Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum, Madrid
Thomas P. Campbell, Director, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Laurence des Cars, President, Musée du Louvre, Paris
Cécile Debray, President, Musée national Picasso-Paris
Markus Dekiert, director, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud, Cologne
Ann Demeester, director, Kunsthaus Zurich
Roger Diederen, director, Kunsthalle Munich
Hartmut Dorgerloh, Managing Director, Humboldt Forum, Berlin
Martin Faass, director, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt
Miguel Falomir, Director, Prado National Museum, Madrid
Diego Ferretti, Director, Mart – Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto
Gabriele Finaldi, Director, The National Gallery, London
Hartwig Fischer, Director, British Museum, London
Reidar Fuglestad, director, Kunstsilo, Kristiansand
Susanne Gaensheimer, Director, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf
Akira Gokita, Director, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum
Peter Gorschlüter, director, Museum Folkwang, Essen
Martine Gosselink, General Manager, Mauritshuis, The Hague
Christoph Grunenberg, director, Kunsthalle Bremen
Sabine Haag, General Director, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Tone Hansen, Director, Munchmuseet, Oslo
Annette Haudiquet, director, Musée d’art moderne André Malraux, Le Havre
Christoph Heinrich, Director, Denver Art Museum
Isidro Hernández, Chief Curator, Óscar Domínguez Collection, TEA Tenerife Arts Space
Karin Hindsbo, Director, National Museum, Oslo
Max Hollein, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Johan Holten, director, Kunsthalle Mannheim
Tristram Hunt, Director, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Thomas Köhler, director, Berlinische Galerie
Lidewij de Koekkoek, director Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
Felix Krämer, director, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
Karola Kraus, General Director, Mumok – Museum more modern Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
Ulrike Kremeier, director, Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für Moderne Kunst, Cottbus/Frankfurt (Oder)
Stephan Kunz, Artistic Director, Bündner Kunstmuseum, Churo
Christiane Lange, Director, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Eric M. Lee, Director, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth
Séverine Lepape, Director, Musée de Cluny, Paris
Christophe Leribault, President, Musée d’Orsay, Paris
Christine Litz, Interim Director, Städtische Museen, Freiburg
Glenn D. Lowry, Director, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Katherine C. Luber, Director and President, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Paola Malavassi, director, DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam
Roland Mönig, director, Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal
Erik H. Neil, Director and CEO, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
Jörg-Uwe Neumann, director, Kunsthalle Rostock
Alex Nyerges, Director and CEO, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
Hermann Parzinger, Chairman, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
Anne Pasternak, Director, Brooklyn Museum, New York
Katherina Perlongo, Interim Director, Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin
Ann Philbin, Director, Hammer Museum UCLA, Los Angeles
Igor Poronyk, Director, Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art
Rebecca Rabinow, Director, The Menil Collection, Houston
Svenja Gräfin von Reichenbach, Director, Palais Populaire, Berlin
Beate Reifenscheid, President, ICOM Germany
Xavier Rey, director, Musée national d’art moderne – Center Pompidou, Paris
Stella Rollig, General Director, Belvedere Museum, Vienna
Bart Rutten, director Central Museum Utrecht
Salvador Salort-Pons, Director, President and CEO, Detroit Institute of Arts
Henning Schaper, director, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden
Eike Schmidt, director, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Cyrille Sciama, Director, Musée des Impressionisms Giverny
Klaus Albrecht Schröder, General Director, ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna
Walter Smerling, Director, MKM Museum Küppersmühle für Moderne Kunst, Duisburg
Petter Snare, Director, KODE Bergen Art Museum
Guillermo Solana, Artistic Director, Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Madrid
Reinhard Spieler, Director, Sprengel Museum Hannover
Paul Spies, director, Stiftung Stadtmuseum, Berlin
Angela Stief, Director, Albertina Modern, Vienna
Elisa Tamaschke, Interim Director, Georg Kolbe Museum, Berlin
Matthew Teitelbaum, Director, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Gary Tinterow, Director, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Poul Erik Tøjner, Director, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk
Karole PB Vail, Director, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
Juan Ignacio Vidarte, General Director, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Christoph Martin Vogtherr, General Manager, Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten, Potsdam
Aurélie Voltz, General Director, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne
Julia Wallner, Director, Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen
Lucy Wasensteiner, Director, Liebermann-Villa am Wannsee, Berlin
Adam D. Weinberg, Director, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Ortrud Westheider, director, Museum Barberini, Potsdam
Nina Zimmer, director, Kunstmuseum–Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
