Three protestors who threw soup over two paintings by Vincent van Gogh were granted bail today at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. The Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists have pled not guilty to charges of criminal damage after targeting the two Sunflower paintings at the National Gallery in London on Friday.

Stephen Simpson, 71, Mary Somerville, 77, and Phil Green, 24, had been arrested shortly after the incident too place on September 27 but, today, punched the air in celebration of their release and waved at their supporters in the public gallery. District Judge Minhas granted bail on the condition that they do not enter the Greater London area within the M25 unless attending a pre-arranged court hearing.

The trio’s protest took place just hours after two other JSO protesters were handed prison sentences for staging the same action in October 2022. On September 27, at Southwark Crown Court, Phoebe Plummer, 23, and Anna Holland, 22, were sentenced to jail for two years and 20 months respectively.

In protest of these jail terms, at around 2:30 p.m., Simpson, Somerville, and Green entered the recently opened “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers” exhibition at the National Gallery. They threw Heinz vegetable soup over two Van Gogh masterpieces hanging on the same wall. One was the very same Sunflowers work Plummer and Holland had previously targeted. The second was another Sunflowers canvas from 1889 that is on loan for the exhibition from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The works, which are protected by a glass cover, were removed from display and examined by a conservator who reported that they have not been damaged. However,  prosecutors for the initial 2022 attack argued that the soup acted as “paint stripper” to the painting’s 17th-century frame that resulted in up to £10,000 ($13,000) worth of damage. Plummer and Holland denied damaging the property.

This time around, prosecutor James Bowker is also alleging that the frames of both Sunflowers paintings have been damaged. Estimating the value of the frame owned by the National Gallery to be around £10,000–£20,000 (£13,400–$26,821), he said it would “likely require lengthy restoration,” according to PA Media.

Three Just Stop Oil activists throw soup at two of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers paintings at the “Lovers and Poets” exhibition at the National Gallery in London on February September 27. Photo: Just Stop Oil.

He said frame on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of art is “likely to be in a similar rage.” He predicted that the combined cost of damages to both frames “could be a high total.”

The defendants’ lawyer Raj Chada pointed out that the potential damage to the frames has not yet been assessed.

Just Stop Oil has set up a fund to support the legal fees of its protestors. Major donations will be rewarded with a limited edition soup-related artwork reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s Soup Cans from the early 1960s.

For £250 ($335), donors will receive a handprinted soup can with Heinz-style packaging that reads “Stop Oil” by artist Myles Glyn. For £500 ($670), they get a handprinted soup can and a soup can poster. Anyone feeling generous enough to give £1,000 ($1,340) may even get the chance to visit one of the brave protestors behind bars.

So far, the group have raised £13,000 ($17,400) with a goal of raising £100,000 ($134,000), which they say will be spent on phone credit, books, and essentials for protestors in prison, legal appeals, more tins of soup, and ongoing talks and trainings for nonviolent direct action.

After participating in the demonstration on Friday, Green announced to the room of shocked and indignant gallery-goers: “There are people in prison for demanding an end to new oil and gas, something which is now government policy. After sustained disruptive actions, countless headlines, and the resulting political pressure, future generations will regard these prisoners of conscience to be on the right side of history.”