Protesters from the Just Stop Oil climate activism group on Friday threw tomato soup over Vincent Van Gogh’s 1888 painting “Sunflowers” at the National Gallery in London. The painting has been recognized as one of Van Gogh’s most iconic works, worth around $82 million. Photo: The Paper

A Just Stop Oil member glues himself to “Peach Trees in Blossom” by Van Gogh at the Courtauld Gallery in London on June 30. Photo: Kristian Buus/VCG

“Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci has been targeted by vandals several times in history. Most recently, it was “caked” by a man disguised as an old lady in a wheelchair at the Louvre Museum in Paris on May 29. Photo: Alain Jocard/VCG

Russian cultural treasure “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan” by Ilya Repin was damaged by 37-year-old Igor Podporin in May 2018. The man was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for vandalism. Photo: Sergei Fadeichev/VCG

“The Scream” by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch was stolen several times. On Feb. 12, 1994, during the opening day of the Winter Olympics, thieves stole it from the National Gallery in Oslo, Norway. In August 2004, the piece was stolen again from the crowded Munch Museum in the city. It took the police two years to recover the painting. Photo: Terje Pedersen/VCG

In 1911, an unemployed navy cook tried to slash Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” with a knife. In 1975, William de Rijk, an unemployed school teacher cut zigzagged lines on the painting. In 1990, a man splashed acid on the piece, damaging its varnish layer. Photo: VCG

This artwork by the U.S. artist John Andrew Perello was unintentionally vandalized by a couple in South Korea in March 2021. The couple painted green strokes on the center of the painting thinking that the artwork was an interactive installation for visitors. Photo: Lee Jae-hee/VCG

In 1974, Tony Shafrazi, an American art dealer and gallery owner wrote “Kill Lies All” with red spray paint over Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” to protest Richard Nixon’s pardon of William Calley, who had been convicted for his actions during the My Lai massacre. The words were removed from the painting later. Photo: Denis Doyle/VCG