Climate protesters smear paint around sculpture at National Gallery of Art

Climate activists targeted a renowned sculpture by Edgar Degas at the National Gallery of Art in Washington on Thursday, April 27. Two protesters smeared red and black paint over the plinth and casing of Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, footage of the incident showed. “We need our leaders to take serious action, to tell us the truth about what is happening with the climate,” one of the protesters can be heard saying. “I have a job that requires health and safety, but I can’t do my job unless I have a government that does their job in looking out for the health and safety of our children,” another protester said. Declare Emergency, a climate emergency activist organization, claimed responsibility for the protest. The sculpture was removed and will undergo damage assessment from the museum’s conservation team, the National Gallery told The Hill.Credit: Declare Emergency via Storyful