Environment activists smear paint on Monet work in Stockholm

Environment activists on Wednesday smeared red paint and glued their hands to the protective glass on a Monet painting at Stockholm’s National Museum, police and the museum said.

“Two women around the ages of 25 and 30 were arrested,” police said, as the organization Aterstall Vatmarker (Restore Wetlands) claimed responsibility for the action in an interview with AFP.

The museum told AFP it was “not yet known” if the painting itself had been damaged.

The artwork was Monet’s “The Artist’s Garden at Giverny” from 1900.

The painting “is being examined by the museum’s curators to see if there has been any damage”, the museum said in a statement, while spokeswoman Hanna Tottmar said they hoped to “have more information” on Thursday.

Aterstall Vatmarker posted a video on Facebook where the two women, one a nurse and the other a nursing student, could be seen smearing the paint and then gluing their hands to the glass.

The two then shout: “The (climate) situation is acute” and “our health is threatened.”

In an interview with AFP, Aterstall Vatmarker accused the Swedish government of not respecting its international climate commitments.

“We should lower our emissions by 31 percent. But our emissions are still increasing. It’s outrageous,” said Helen Wahlgren, a spokesperson for the group.