By: Claire Ying

On Sunday, a man in a wig dressed up as an old lady in a wheelchair (to enable him to reach the front row), threw cake at the renowned Mona Lisa painting, done in the 16th century by Leonardo da Vinci.

Videos of the psychotic man being escorted out of the museum by security, as rose petals fell from his costume, were spread over social media in the following days. Videos show him speaking about the planet in French, specifically, “[t]hink of the Earth! There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it. Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That’s why I did this,” he said, presumably as a form of climate protest.

Other videos show bystanders trying to clear the painting’s protective glass layer by scraping cake off it. Videos show the crowd breaking into applause when the cake was finally cleared. Thankfully, the renaissance painting itself was not damaged.

Luke Sundberg, a witness, reported to the PA news agency, “[i]t was jaw-dropping, it was a lot to take in considering how historic Mona Lisa is… the moment was once in a million.”

The man responsible for the absurd vandalization was sent to a psychiatric unit for evaluation. In response to the man’s actions, an investigation was confirmed for “the attempt of damaging a cultural property.”

The painting has a long history of abuse. In 1911, the painting went missing from the Louvre. After 2 years, the search for the painting ended when authorities were informed about a man trying to sell the Mona Lisa to an Italian art dealer. The man who initially stole the painting was found to be a museum employee.

The bulletproof piece of glass had to be installed over the painting in the 1950s after an acid attack in Montauban, France. The additional protective layer later protected the painting from a woman who tried to throw a ceramic cup at it in 2009.

Even after every attempt to sabotage it, the Mona Lisa is somehow always able to make it out alive.

Sources:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mona-lisa-cake-climate-change-protest-louvre/

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/mona-lisa-louvre-cake-attack/index.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-61635822

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/30/1102044111/man-throws-cake-at-mona-lisa-the-louvre