A man disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair smeared the glass protecting the Mona Lisa, shouting at people to think of the planet. Read to know the full story.
Man dressed up as an old woman smears cake on Mona Lisa
Art lovers visiting the Louvre on Sunday were in for a new shock. A man, dressed as an old woman jumped out of a wheelchair to smear cake on the glass protecting Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting. The video is circulating on social media. The Louvre in Paris is the world’s largest museum. Housing several thousands of artworks, Louvre attracted about 10 million visitors annually before the pandemic. The man, disguised as an old lady jumped out of his wheelchair and tried breaking the bulletproof glass. He was unable to break the glass barrier hence, took to smearing cake to cover the painting. Soon, museum security tackled him but, he sprinkled roses before being knocked to the ground.
However, this is not the first attack on Mona Lisa. The 16th-century masterpiece was first stolen in 1922. A museum employee robbing it increased its international fame. It is behind glass since 1956 when a Bolivian man threw a rock, damaging her left elbow. A Russian woman was successful in scratching the case in 2009 after throwing an empty teacup at the case. She was angry since she was unable to get French citizenship.
Motive: To spread awareness
“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,” wrote Lukeee on Twitter. The man was screaming in French in a video uploaded by a Twitter user.
“Exactly this: Think about the Earth, think about the Earth, there are people who are destroying the Earth, think about it. All the artists tell you to think about the Earth, all artists think about the Earth, that’s why I did this, Think about the Planet,” he pleaded in french. The Mona Lisa is also considered a seminal work from the Italian renaissance period. Additionally, it has the highest-paid insurance valuation at $100 million.
