The sight of bright orange Heinz Tomato soup splattered over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers was too much to bear for some. Yes, of course, we support the future survival of humanity, but this is a step too far.
Perhaps this was the reaction Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland imagined when they entered the National Gallery in October, armed with one of Mr Heinz’s 57 varieties and some glue. The painting itself, hidden behind a glass screen, wasn’t damaged. Small matter.
“This is infantile vandalism and these people should be sent to prison... for life,” said a commentator on TalkTV, and so on and so forth.
At the time of writing Plummer and Holland are set to face a jury in January – though not quite with a life sentence hanging over their heads. But their day in court is symbolic. It comes at the end of 2022, a year when the right to protest about the things you believe in has shifted and shrunk.
On one side,
