The world’s most famous smile was briefly overshadowed on Sunday when a man spread a little cream cake on the Mona Lisa in what appeared to be a climate protest.
However, Leonardo da Vinci’s 16th-century masterpiece is intact as it is protected behind armored glass at the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Social networks quickly lit up with videos posted by tourists who were in the gallery at the time.
Visitors reported that a man disguised himself as an elderly lady in a wheelchair, presumably to gain access to the place right in front of the painting reserved for people with disabilities. Then he stood up and spread the cream cake on the glass case that preserves the Renaissance painting.
Visitors take photos and videos of the painting “Mona Lisa” after the cake was smeared on the protective glass of the Louvre Museum in Paris on May 29, 2022, in this image on the screen obtained from a video on social networks. Twitter / @ klevisl007 / via REUTERS
When the guards attacked him, the man with the wig and make-up threw red roses at their feet.
As he was being taken away, the man told the crowd in French, “Think of the Earth. There are people who are destroying the Earth. Think about it … all artists, think about the Earth – that’s why I did it Think about the planet. “
The Louvre issued a statement Monday saying the painting had not been damaged. The museum said the man hid the cake in his personal belongings.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said Monday that the 36-year-old man was detained after Sunday’s incident and sent to a police psychiatric ward for evaluation. An investigation has been launched into the damage to cultural artifacts.
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