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Visitors will be banned from bringing liquids into London’s National Gallery after a series of attacks on artworks.
From 18 October, the public will no longer be allowed to bring any liquids into the gallery except for baby formula, expressed milk and prescription medicines.
The gallery said it had “reached a point where we have been forced to act to protect our visitors, staff and collection”.
The more stringent measures come after two incidents in which paintings were vandalised within a fortnight.
Last week, campaigners from the civil resistance group Youth Demand pasted a photo of a Palestinian mother and child over Picasso’s masterpiece, Motherhood (La Maternité) in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza and spilled red paint on the floor, while on 27 September, activists from the climate action group Just Stop Oil threw soup at two Van Gogh paintings.
In a statement today (17 October), the National Gallery said: “Following recent incidents within the gallery it is now necessary to introduce increased security measures to ensure the safety of all those who visit, National Gallery staff and the nation’s collection of paintings.
“Free access to the National Gallery allows everyone to be inspired by humanity’s greatest achievements. The collection we hold is irreplaceable and with each attack we have been forced to consider putting more barriers between the people and their artworks to preserve these fragile objects for future generations.
“Unfortunately, we have now reached a point where we have been forced to act to protect our visitors, staff and collection.”
The statement continued: “Since July 2022, the National Gallery alone has been the victim of five separate attacks on iconic paintings such as Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, John Constable’s The Hay Wain and Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus. Such attacks have caused physical damage to the artworks, distress to visitors and staff alike, and disruption to our mission to ensure great art is available for everyone, everywhere to enjoy.
“Two of these attacks have happened in the last two weeks, and that is why we have taken the difficult and unfortunate decision to change the way we operate for the foreseeable future.
“We urge all visitors to bring minimal items with them including no large bags. All doors into the gallery have walk-through metal detectors where we will inspect bags and rucksacks.”
The institution said the measures meant it would take visitors longer than usual to access the gallery and apologised for the inconvenience.
It said: “We are sorry that visitors are, for the time being, not going to receive the welcome we would very much like to extend to them, but we hope that they understand why it is necessary for us to do this.”
Offer to meet
The development comes as Just Stop Oil and Youth Demand invited the National Gallery’s director Gabriele Finaldi and other museum directors to meet with activists and discuss a way forward, following an open letter from the National Museum Directors’ Council calling for the attacks to stop.
“These are the actions of a public who are scared, angry, but unwilling to give up,” said the protest groups in a joint statement addressed to NMDC.
“People unafraid to use the cultural power of their national institutions when those institutions fail to do so. We have some ideas on how you can mitigate this.”
The groups invited museum directors to meet next week “in a public location at the National Gallery”.
They said: “We have action takers who have risked liberty to call for an end to oil and gas that would love to speak with Dr Gabriele Finaldi. We’ll leave the soup at home.”
The groups said their actions “cause small amounts of damage and disruption in order to bring to attention the enormous damage and destruction that our government is supporting”.
“We note that your statement does not acknowledge the climate emergency or your responsibilities as custodians of our national treasures,” they said.
The group added: “Today you take issue with soup and stickers, but tomorrow you will contend with rising waters in the Thames and deadly heat waves in the city. People disrupt museum and gallery spaces to break the illusion that everything is fine. We need institutions to confront their responsibilities at this time – head on.”
The groups said their actions had been effective in achieving their first demand to end new oil and gas licenses in the UK, and called on cultural institutions to join them in demanding a “total end to the extraction and burning of fossil fuels”.
The statement continued: “There is a rich history of protest in public gallery spaces. We are proud to be part of that heritage – from the Suffragettes who slashed pictures in the National Gallery to anti-Sackler protests at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Will you use your immense power to safeguard your collections and the public who enjoy them?
“Let’s work together. We look forward to hearing from you.”
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