A Man Disguised As An Old Woman In A Wheelchair Threw Cake At The Mona Lisa As A Climate Protest
Museum-goers at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, were surprised on Sunday May 29, after a man who was disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair got up and threw a cake at the Mona Lisa.
Museum-goers at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, were surprised on Sunday May 29, after a man who was disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair got up and threw a cake at the Mona Lisa.
Louvre visitors reported how the man rolled close to the painting on a wheelchair and smeared cake on the glass casing over the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting.
The man also reportedly tried smashing the glass case but fail to do any damage.
Video footage shared on social media showed Louvre personnel escorting the man outside of the premises while he shouted about the environment.
“Think of the Earth! There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it,” the man, who was wearing lipstick and a wig, shouted in French, according to AP. “Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That’s why I did this.”
Following the incident, police arrested the 36-year-old man and sent him to a psychiatric unit.
The museum said he had been able to get into close proximity of the painting because of his “disability”.
“The Louvre applied its usual procedures for people with reduced mobility, allowing them to admire this major work of art,” the museum said in a statement, according to CNN.
The museum has filed a complaint, and an investigation has been opened into “the attempt of damaging a cultural property.”
The Mona Lisa has seen similar attacks throughout the years.
An acid attack in the 1950s, which damage parts of the frame, led to the installation of a protective glass around the painting.
