Just Stop Oil fanatics are jailed for two years after tipping soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers masterpiece

Just Stop Oil fanatics are jailed for two years after tipping soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers masterpiece

Two Just Stop Oil activists have been jailed for pouring soup over Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, after they came close to ‘destroying’ the masterpiece.

Phoebe Plummer 23, and Anna Holland, 22, caused as much as £10,000 worth of damage to the artwork’s gold-coloured frame when they targeted it at London’s National Gallery.

Plummer received a two-year jail term, while Holland was handed 20 months.

The protesters, wearing Just Stop Oil T-shirts, threw two tins of Heinz tomato soup over the 1888 work in October 2022, before kneeling down in front of the painting and gluing their hands to the wall beneath it.

Staff at the gallery inspected the painting and frame for damage while the women were still attached to the wall, and were worried the soup may have dripped through the protective glass.

In October 2022, Phoebe Plummer, 23, and fellow activist Anna Holland, 22, flung two tins of Heinz soup at Sunflowers at London ‘s National Gallery

Just Stop Oil supporters gathered outside the court, some of whom held posters of historical figures jailed for activism

Just Stop Oil supporters gathered outside the court, some of whom held posters of historical figures jailed for activism

Plummer received a two-year jail term

Holland was handed a 20 months jail time

Plummer received a two-year jail term, while Holland was handed 20 months 

Sentencing the women, Judge Christopher Hehir said the ‘cultural treasure’ could have been ‘seriously damaged or even destroyed’.

Judge Hehir, who previously jailed the co-founder of Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion for five years, continued: ‘Soup might have seeped through the glass.

‘You couldn’t have cared less if the painting was damaged or not.

‘You had no right to do what you did to Sunflowers.’

The judge told Plummer, who was also handed a criminal behaviour order: ‘You clearly think your beliefs give you the right to commit crimes when you feel like it. You do not.’

Raj Chada, defending Holland, said the women ‘did check’ that the painting was protected by a glass cover before throwing the soup.

Plummer, representing herself, told the hearing: ‘My choice today is to accept whatever sentence I receive with a smile.

‘It is not just myself being sentenced today, or my co-defendants, but the foundations of democracy itself.’

The painting is considered to be a masterpiece and is one of the most recognisable artworks in the world

The painting is considered to be a masterpiece and is one of the most recognisable artworks in the world

Supporters of the two Just Stop Oil environmental protesters, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland gather with placards outside Southwark Crown Court

Supporters of the two Just Stop Oil environmental protesters, Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland gather with placards outside Southwark Crown Court

Plummer was also handed a three-month sentence for her part in a slow march which caused long tailbacks in west London in November 2023.

Holland and Plummer were found guilty of criminal damage by a jury after three hours of deliberation in July, after which Judge Hehir said they ‘came within the width of a pane of glass of destroying one of the most valuable artworks in the world’.

Painted in Arles in the south of France in August 1888, van Gogh’s painting shows 15 sunflowers standing in a yellow pot against a yellow background.

The priceless work was the second from the National Gallery to be selected as a target for protest action by Just Stop Oil in 2022.

Two supporters glued themselves to John Constable’s The Hay Wain in July of that year.

In the intervening years, Plummer has taken part in numerous other demonstrations, committing flagrant offences and being constantly re-bailed so she can re-offend

In the intervening years, Plummer has taken part in numerous other demonstrations, committing flagrant offences and being constantly re-bailed so she can re-offend

Phoebe Plummer

Phoebe Plummer

Plummer, who once likened herself to Martin Luther King, has lived a life of serene luxury

Plummer attended the £50,000 a year St Mary's Ascott boarding school in Berkshire

Plummer attended the £50,000 a year St Mary’s Ascott boarding school in Berkshire 

She grew up in her parents £2.85million Chelsea townhouse but is now thought to reside at a property in Lambeth

She grew up in her parents £2.85million Chelsea townhouse but is now thought to reside at a property in Lambeth 

In 2022, Plummer said in front of the 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.’

In July, just five days after her guilty verdict, Plummer was arrested for spraying paint on departure boards at Heathrow Airport.

A number of Just Stop Oil supporters gathered outside the court, some of whom held posters of historical figures jailed for activism.

Plummer, who once likened herself to Martin Luther King, has lived a life of serene luxury being privately educated at St Mary’s Ascot boarding school in Berkshire before studying social anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies. 

She grew up in her parents £2.85million Chelsea townhouse but according to court hearings now resides at a house in Lambeth. 

It is not known if the professional protester has managed to find gainful employment to support herself in her new digs, but according to an interview in the Times it seems unlikely. 

She boasted: ‘I don’t have to work three jobs to feed my kids or pay heating bills which means I can dedicate time towards fighting.’ 

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