On January 28th, around 10:00 am, two female protestors threw soup at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris. The two women were protesting the agricultural system and climate change, with the goal of integrating food into the social security system. They also stood and shouted to the audience, “What’s more important: art, or sustainable food?” and  “Your agriculture system is sick, our farmers are dying at work.” They were soon escorted out and the museum was evacuated for cleaning. The museum was reopened around 11:30.

Luckily, the Mona Lisa was not harmed by the dousing of pumpkin soup. It has been covered with a shield of bulletproof glass since the early 1950s when a visitor poured acid on it. Since then it has had rocks, cake, and teacups thrown at it along with being dropped, almost damaged, and stolen before that. The Mona Lisa is one of the most protected pieces of art and also the most durable.

Perhaps the attack was not an attempt to harm the Da Vinci painting, but rather to get their cause on the news and to prove their point to the world. The Mona Lisa was more likely to be broadcast rather than the strikes and protests happening in Paris. Their act worked because now the world knows that there is real change that needs to happen in the U.N.’s agricultural system, even if the form of protest was controversial.