Tom Thomson Painting Undamaged After Paint Protest at National Gallery of Canada
Tom Thomson, “Northern River,” 1915, oil on canvas, 45" x 40" (courtesy National Gallery of Canada, purchased 1915, accession number 1055)
Tom Thomson's painting, Northern River, is undamaged after an "unfortunate" paint smearing Tuesday by an environmental protester, says the National Gallery of Canada.
"The work was displayed in a protective glazed panel and has been taken out from display for further evaluation," the Ottawa gallery said in a statement. "We expect it will be rehung shortly."
The 1915 oil on canvas, which depicts a river veiled by trees, was smeared with pink paint.
The environmental group On2Ottawa shared a video via Instagram showing a man smearing pink paint on the work, gluing one hand to the floor and then reading a statement expressing concern about climate change and the country's unprecedented wildfire season that included a call to establish a national firefighting agency.
"Save this work of art we call Planet Earth," he concluded.
Ottawa police arrested the protester, who has been identified in media reports as Kaleb Suedfeld, and charged him with criminal mischief.
In a statement after the incident, On2Ottawa, which describes itself a non-violent civil disobedience group, said the pink paint was washable.
On2Ottawa is linked to previous protests, including traffic disruptions in Ottawa, paint throwing at the woolly mammoth at the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria, and the appearance of a bare-breasted protestor at the Juno Awards last spring.
Similar protests against climate change have been mounted by environmental groups around the world.
