Paris museum says painting was target of attempted attack

A young woman attempted to throw soup at a world-famous artwork in the Musee d'Orsay

'Campbell's Soup Cans' by Andy Warhol was been targeted by climate activists at the National Gallery of Australia. Photo: Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies

A police officer stands outside the Mauritshuis museum, where three people were arrested for attempting to smudge Vermeer's painting 'Girl with a Pearl Earring', currently exhibited there, in The Hague, Netherlands on October 27, 2022. EPA

Two environmental activists of Last Generation glue themselves to metal bars around a display of dinosaur skeletons and holding a banner reading "what if the government does not have it under control" in the Berlin's Natural History Museum, in Berlin on October 30. AFP

Climate protesters of Last Generation after throwing mashed potatoes at the Claude Monet painting 'Les Meules' at Potsdam’s Barberini Museum on October 24. AP

Protesters throw two tins of Heinz tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh’s famous 1888 work Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London on October 14. Photo: Just Stop Oil

Three young supporters of Just Stop Oil spray-painted around the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Two also glued themselves to the frame of Horatio McCulloch's painting 'My Heart’s in the Highlands' on June 29 this year. Photo: Just Stop Oil

Two activists glued themselves to the frame of Vincent van Gogh’s 'Peach Trees in Blossom' (1889) at The Courtauld Gallery in London on June 30. Photo: Just Stop Oil

On July 1, two activists glued themselves to the frame of 'Tomson’s Aeolian Harp' (1809), a painting by JMW Turner, at the Manchester Art Gallery. Photo: Just Stop Oil

Activists from the 'Just Stop Oil' campaign group cover 'The Hay Wain' painting by English artist John Constable, in a mock 'undated' version including roads and aircraft, before glueing their hands to the frame in protest against the use of fossil fuels, at The National Gallery in London on July 4. AFP

Activists glue their hands to the frame of the painting 'The Hay Wain' on July 4. AFP

Five Just Stop Oil activists spray paint the wall and glue themselves to the frame of the painting the 'Last Supper' by Leonardo da Vinci on July 5, at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photo: In Pictures via Getty Images

Two activists of the Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) environmentalist group glue themselves to the glass protecting Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli's 'Primavera (Spring)' in Florence's Uffizi Galleries on July 22. Photo: Ultima Generation via AP

A museum official tries to block two activists of Ultima Generazione (Last Generation). Photo: Ultima Generation via AP

Visitors take pictures and video of the 'Mona Lisa' after cake was smeared on its protective glass at the Louvre Museum in Paris on May 29. Photo: Twitter / @klevisl007 via Reuters

A young woman tried to throw soup at a painting at the world-famous Musee d'Orsay in Paris this week, the museum confirmed on Sunday, in a similar attack to others by climate activists in Europe.

Scroll through the gallery above to see photos of other protests in museums and art galleries

The museum refused to say which painting was targeted, but it is home to works by some of the most famous European artists, including Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet and Claude Monet.

The museum revealed it had filed a legal complaint for the "attempt to damage a piece of work" after the female activist was intercepted on Thursday, confirming a report in Le Parisien daily.

The Paris prosecutor's office said police had opened an investigation after the complaint.

According to the French newspaper, the woman had initially tried to approach the 1889 Van Gogh self-portrait at Saint-Remy, before attempting to throw soup at a painting by Gauguin.

The daily reported she was wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt, as others have worn during similar stunts in recent weeks.

On Sunday, two environmental activists glued themselves to metal poles supporting a dinosaur skeleton that was more than 60 million years old at Berlin's Natural History Museum to protest Germany's climate policies.

And also on Thursday, climate activists glued themselves to Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, Netherlands.

Environmental activists splashed tomato soup on Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery in London earlier this month, while others threw mashed potato over a Monet painting at the Barberini Museum in Germany.

As the attacks increase in number, French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak has urged national museums to "redouble their vigilance".