Climate Activists Throw Soup on Van Gogh Painting in Rome

Environmental activists tossed pea soup on a Vincent van Gogh painting Friday in Rome to protest carbon use and natural gas extraction, but caused no damage to the glass-covered painting. Security intervened immediately and removed the protesters kneeling in front of “The Sower” at the Palazzo Bonaparte to deliver a manifesto. A spokesperson for the exhibit said they had carried the soup in jars under their clothing into the museum. Protesters from the same group, the Last Generation, earlier blocked a highway near Rome. The painting belongs to the Kroller-Muller Museum in the Netherlands and was on loan for a show in Italy's capital featuring works by Van Gogh. Officials said the 1888 painting was undamaged. Italy’s new culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, condemned the protest. “Attacking art is an ignoble act that must be firmly condemned,’’ he said. “Culture, which is the basis of our identity, must be defended and protected, and certainly not used as