London’s National Gallery Bans Liquids in Hopes of Deterring Protesters

The National Gallery in London has said it will ban most outside liquids on its premises after becoming a site of protest for demonstrators in the past two years. As of October 18, the museum will disallow outside liquids except for baby formula, expressed milk, and prescription medicine. Large bags are discouraged, and the gallery has warned visitors, who are subject to bag searches and metal detectors, that they may wait longer than usual to get in.

The ban arrives just days afterYouth Demandprotesterspasteda portrait of a Gazan mother and child over Picasso’s 1901Motherhood (La Maternité)at the National Gallery in an effort to bring about an arms embargo with Israel; and weeks after demonstrators affiliated with climate change action groupJust Stop Oiltossed soup over two canvases at the National Gallery in protest of thesentencingof two of their colleagues forsoupingVincent van Gogh’s 1888Sunflowersat the same institution in October 2022. That action was intended to bring attention to global warming. In sum, the museum has been the site of five such protests since July 2022.

“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,” said the museum in a statement. “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.”

A week before the National Gallery announced its ban on liquids, the National Museum Directors’ Council (NMDC) published anopen letterdemanding that protesters cease attacks on artworks in institutions, writing, “They are hugely damaging to the reputation of UK museums and cause enormous stress for colleagues at every level of an organization, along with visitors who now no longer feel safe visiting the nation’s finest museums and galleries.”

Just Stop Oil, with which Youth Demand is affiliated, on October 15 published anopen letteroffering to meet with NMDC officials and promising to “leave the soup at home.” Pointing out that the NMDC letter had not addressed the climate emergency that had spurred the lion’s share of the groups’ protests, Just Stop Oil wrote, “Today you take issue with soup and stickers, but tomorrow you will contend with rising waters in the Thames and deadly heat waves in the city.”

“People disrupt museum and gallery spaces to break the illusion that everything is fine,” the group continued. “Weneedinstitutions to confront their responsibilities at this time—head on.”