The Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, may be the most famous work of art in the world. It hangs in the Louvre, behind bullet proof casing. Thank goodness for that, since someone just tried to ruin it.
A 36 year old man dressed as a woman surprised everyone, when he jumped out of his wheelchair and smeared cake on the Mona Lisa. According to a twitter user named Lukeee, “[a] man dressed as an old lady jumps out of a wheelchair and attempted to smash the bulletproof glass of the Mona Lisa. Then proceeds to smear cake on the glass and throws roses everywhere, all before being tackled by security,” reported The Guardian.
AP Europe tweeted: “A man seemingly disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair threw a piece of cake at the glass protecting the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum and shouted at people to think of planet Earth. The famous painting wasn’t damaged.”
The Guardian reported that the man was speaking French and, translated, said, “[t]here are people who are destroying the Earth … All artists, think about the Earth. That’s why I did this. Think of the planet.”
See what happened to Ted Cruz after he spoke at the NRA Convention
This isn’t the first time someone has vandalized the Mona Lisa. The Guardian reports that “…a Bolivian man threw a rock at the painting in December 1956, damaging her left elbow,” and “[i]n 2009 a Russian woman threw an empty teacup at the painting, which slightly scratched the case.”
One can see from the video that the man’s costume was not very convincing. He did get the attention of just about everyone in the world by his actions, but it doesn’t seem like throwing cake at a priceless work of art will do much for the climate. Do you think this is an effective way to make a point?
