Eco-activists on Sunday splashed mashed potatoes on a Claude Monet painting in a German museum, days after Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers in London was hit by tomato soup.
Publishing a video of the action on Twitter, the environmental protest group Last Generation wrote: "If it takes a painting — with #MashedPotatoes or #TomatoSoup thrown at it — to make society remember that the fossil fuel course is killing us all: Then we'll give you #MashedPotatoes on a painting!"
The work, Les Meules (Haystacks), hangs in the Museum Barberini in Potsdam and is part of billionaire Hasso Plattner's collection. It is on permanent loan to the museum.
The painting fetched $111 million at an auction in 2019 — the highest sum paid for a Monet.
Dressed in black with orange vests, the two activists poured the mashed potatoes on the painting before squatting in front of it and sticking a hand each on the wall.
"Does it take mashed potatoes on a painting to get you to listen? This painting is not going to be worth anything if we have to fight over food," said one of the two activists.
Both were taken into custody and are under investigation for damage to property and trespassing, police said.
The painting was protected by glass, the museum said, adding that experts have assessed that it has not suffered any damage.
The work will be back on show from Wednesday, the museum said.
In a similar stunt on October 14, two environmental protesters hit van Gogh's world-renowned work with tomato soup at the National Gallery in London.
The gallery said the protesters caused "minor damage to the frame but the painting is unharmed".
Scroll through the gallery below to see photos of other climate activists protesting using artwork
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'Campbell's Soup Cans' by Andy Warhol was been targeted by climate activists at the National Gallery of Australia. Photo: Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies -
A police officer stands outside the Mauritshuis museum, where three people were arrested for attempting to smudge Vermeer's painting 'Girl with a Pearl Earring', currently exhibited there, in The Hague, Netherlands on October 27, 2022. EPA -
Two environmental activists of Last Generation glue themselves to metal bars around a display of dinosaur skeletons and holding a banner reading "what if the government does not have it under control" in the Berlin's Natural History Museum, in Berlin on October 30. AFP -
Climate protesters of Last Generation after throwing mashed potatoes at the Claude Monet painting 'Les Meules' at Potsdam’s Barberini Museum on October 24. AP -
Protesters throw two tins of Heinz tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s famous 1888 work Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London on October 14. Photo: Just Stop Oil -
Three young supporters of Just Stop Oil spray-painted around the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Two also glued themselves to the frame of Horatio McCulloch's painting 'My Heart’s in the Highlands' on June 29 this year. Photo: Just Stop Oil -
Two activists glued themselves to the frame of Vincent van Gogh’s 'Peach Trees in Blossom' (1889) at The Courtauld Gallery in London on June 30. Photo: Just Stop Oil -
On July 1, two activists glued themselves to the frame of 'Tomson’s Aeolian Harp' (1809), a painting by JMW Turner, at the Manchester Art Gallery. Photo: Just Stop Oil -
Activists from the 'Just Stop Oil' campaign group cover 'The Hay Wain' painting by English artist John Constable, in a mock 'undated' version including roads and aircraft, before glueing their hands to the frame in protest against the use of fossil fuels, at The National Gallery in London on July 4. AFP -
Activists glue their hands to the frame of the painting 'The Hay Wain' on July 4. AFP -
Five Just Stop Oil activists spray paint the wall and glue themselves to the frame of the painting the 'Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci on July 5, at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photo: In Pictures via Getty Images -
Two activists of the Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) environmentalist group glue themselves to the glass protecting Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli's 'Primavera (Spring)' in Florence's Uffizi Galleries on July 22. Photo: Ultima Generation via AP -
A museum official tries to block two activists of Ultima Generazione (Last Generation). Photo: Ultima Generation via AP -
Visitors take pictures and video of the 'Mona Lisa' after cake was smeared on its protective glass at the Louvre Museum in Paris on May 29. Photo: Twitter / @klevisl007 via Reuters
