A bizarre trend in performative vandalism of important works of art continued in the Hague when a climate activist glued himself to Johannes Vermeer’s priceless 1665 “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” The arrest came four days after two German police detained two environmental activists who threw mashed potatoes at Claude Monet’s 1890 masterpiece, “Grainstacks,” which was sold at an auction in 2019 for $110.7million. They were protected by protective glass, just like Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” in London, which succumbed to tomato soup on October 14.
One of the Dutch activists asked how he felt when he saw something precious and valuable being destroyed in front of his eyes. His co-conspirators were covered in tomato soup. One London environmentalist asked: “What’s more valuable, art or life?” It is worth more than food. Is it worth more than justice? Is it more important to protect a painting than the protection our planet and people?
The activists asked the rhetorical question: What is the relative value of art and what does it mean for life? It seems that it is difficult to distinguish human flourishing and expressions of human experience in techne. Making or doing things is what makes us unique and expresses our deepest feelings and affections. It is possible to degrade and denigrate art as well as the ability of humans to value life.
It is sensational in its absurdity that one can assert one’s love of one thing, namely the wellbeing of the planet, by denigrating another thing. Imagine a woman’s rights activist trashing a beloved library, or Black Lives Matter activists torching an immigrant’s urban store. This is multiple, which shows you something about BLM’s internal incoherence.
These incidents are also helpful in revealing what it is that activists have done to make activist culture so chaotic and confused about human dignity. Environmental activists seek to highlight a gap and, by extension, an injustice in the things we value. They claim that we are shocked by the attack on a famous, valuable piece of art. They insist that we are not shocked at rising temperatures, pollution, food insecurity, and the loss of endangered species.
However, we need to ask ourselves why we care about these things and what it is that makes us care about humans. The role of art distinguishing mankind from all other nature has an ancient history. Aristotle also made the same observation in his Nicomachean Ethics. The Greek philosopher Aesthetics argues that aesthetics is a “structured whole”, something that seeks to show, through analogy, what is common in each individual. Humans become more perfect in themselves by doing this. He writes Eudemian ethics. These themes are what Aquinas drew on more than a millennia after he wrote them. He described beauty in his Summa Theologiae as having proportion, clarity, integrity.
Art requires the combination of many acts and attributes that are only found in humans to create it. Professor James Franklin, an Australian, states in What Gives Persons Worth: The Foundation of Ethics: “A pure intellectual rationality is an integral part [of] what gives people worth, even though it is not the entire story.” He also explains that social cognition (of which language can be an external effect), volition (our freedom to choose) and the complexity of our emotions. All of these are evident in art, which is a type of language and allows us to express our emotions and affections in unique ways.
The ability to memorialize and honor is another characteristic that art possesses that sets it apart from all other creation. Art is often a place where we can not only see something, but also connect our intellects and emotions to it. We look at the artist’s hopes, fears, and yearnings. Through our appreciation for art, we are acknowledging the intrinsic dignity of each other.
Reflecting on aesthetics, regardless of whether it is presented via music, art, or architecture, can instill empathy in us, as Declan Leary , TAC editor, stated in an earlier piece discussing Russian artist Ilya Resin. We love to possess the other when we engage with art. This is exactly the same way we learn to value the natural environment: as custodians for a loved possession.
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Franklin rhetorically questions, “Why shouldn’t I not vandalize an important artwork or shoot the last dodo just for fun?” They are precious, and their destruction is a loss. This and only that alone explains why I shouldn’t destroy them.” This is why activists such as those involved in the mock desecration and destruction of art are so inconsistent in their values and premises. While they believe they are helping to set things right by trying to deface art, in fact, they are actually doing the exact opposite. They vitiate themselves by rejecting one of the things that make us human and most capable of doing good deeds towards others and the natural world.
Art is not created by any other species. I’ve seen elephants in Chiang Mai paint pictures but they are only following the rote steps that their trainers have instructed them. Attacking art is to attack man. These activists use a utilitarian calculus which is not fundamentally different from totalitarian regimes they detest. Hitler’s Schutzstaffel, Mao’s Chinese Communist Party and Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge were just a few of the people who wanted to destroy good things because they had a twisted, unbalanced love for other things. Some of these things, such as one’s land and people, are also good. These zealots tossed aside the very things that had made them capable of creating and protecting beauty.
Activists who try to vandalize the beautiful works of men are engaging in a act of self-destruction. They undermine the very things that allow us to love the earth. The Dutch museum stated that activists advocate for the preservation and protection of nature. “But we’re in favor of conserving our cultural heritage.” By preserving and cherishing authentic human goods, such as art and music, we can be more effective at protecting and cultivating the natural world. It directs us to why animals, plants, and natural vistas deserve saving. The Dutch, English, German, and German activists’ understanding of the human being and what allows him to thrive is as low as the canned soups and potatoes they used to throw at multimillion-dollar masterpieces.
