National Gallery in London steps up security after activists’ art attacks

The National Gallery has announced a raft of increased security measures after protesters attacked paintings including Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, John Constable’s The Hay Wain and Diego Velázquez’s The Rokeby Venus.

From Friday morning there will be a ban on bringing into the London gallery any liquids except for baby formula, expressed milk or prescription medicines.

All doors into the gallery will have walk-through metal detectors, bags and rucksacks will be inspected, and visitors have been asked to bring as few items as possible, and no large bags.

Also banned from the gallery premises are “displayed or wearable paraphernalia deemed as offensive or affiliated to organisations that pose a physical threat to the collection”, as well as the distribution of any campaign materials.

A statement 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.”

Since July 2022 the National Gallery has faced five separate attacks on some of its most revered paintings, two of which happened in the last two weeks. Just Stop Oil activists poured soup over two Van Gogh paintings hours after other members of the group were jailed for damaging the gold frame of one of the artist’s Sunflowers works.

The gallery said the attacks had 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”. Because of this, it said, it had “taken the difficult and unfortunate decision to change the way we operate for the foreseeable future”.

The gallery said it was sorry that visitors were “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”.

Last week leaders of the UK’s national collections and major regional museums wrote of the “enormous stress for colleagues at every level of an organisation” and of “visitors who now no longer feel safe”, in an open letter about the recent spate of protest action.

The National Museum Directors’ Council said: “The world is currently in a very dark place, but these demonstrations now need to be taken away from our museums and galleries so that they can continue to provide light and solace to all.”

In response to the letter, a spokesperson for Just Stop Oil told the Art Newspaper: “If the NMDC believes the biggest threat they face is nonviolent protest, they should speak to the staff that are now sleeping in Florida’s Salvador Dalí museum after their houses were destroyed by a supercharged hurricane.”

Just Stop Oil and Youth Demand have since proposed a meeting with the National Gallery’s director, and promised to “leave the soup at home”.