The first time I stood before the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, I wept. A lot. I tend to be a weeper. It’s a problem for people who feel deeply. I definitely weep in the presence of great art. When I’m in D.C., I always quietly visit the Impressionist wing of our National Gallery and/or The Phillips Collection and keep my sunglasses on because I become so moved. Same for MOMA when I’m working in New York City.
“Why are you crying, Daddy?” asked my then-young daughter, and I proceeded to sit with her in the hallowed halls and explain. “Human artistic history and beyond,” I said. As I proceeded to explain its significance to art and Leonardo da Vinci’s massive contributions in arts, sciences, invention and thought. She didn’t really grasp the significance of the painting nor The Louvre at the time, but I wanted her to see it. She grew to understand the significance of the moment.
Now. The Mona Lisa, if you haven’t been, resides in a private room at The Louvre behind a closely guarded rope and bulletproof—bombproof—glass. 24-hour protection. She is a hallowed treasure and French authorities take her very seriously. The world takes her very seriously. As we all should.
So why throw soup? Campaign. Vote. Museums have zero to do with climate change. Go to your elected officials. Put stupid signs in your yard. Do your thing. Let the First Amendment roll for everyone. But disrupting a day at the world’s most treasured museum for a lot of people who spent a lot of time and money just to be there is nothing short of obnoxious and rude.
What, may I ask, could possibly compel weirdo food activists to throw soup at her? What compels climate activists deface a Monet painting in Sweden or anti-oil activists to superglue themselves to museum walls around the world and just do generally crazy anti-art shit? Maybe I’m wrong, but my impression of leftist activists is that many of them are creative types, as am I. But I guess John Wilkes Booth was a creative type as well. The Mona Lisa, as Monet paintings, represent the best of human capacity to conjure true beauty. And the de-facers represent the worst. Go figure.
Actually, I do know. Desperate measures are pathetic, and climate change folk are indeed desperate. Even RFK Jr., whom I have a past with and used to be the most militant American on climate change, now calls it a hoax. Because it is. I live on an island and I’m cold. My girlfriend is in DC and it’s 43 degrees as I write. I had to have the housekeeper pull all of my plants yesterday because it froze here—on the beach on Hilton Head Island--for three straight days. Take your climate change and blow it out your ass.
The Monet thing particularly disturbs me, because I have stood in his garden at Giverny. I walked through his home. When I see his work, it always takes me back. The place is magical. The paintings are magical. I urge you to visit Giverny, by the way, but I do not urge defacing while you are there. Such a thing will not end up well for you. Seeing a Monet defaced by idiots upset at Exxon or whatever is incredibly disturbing to me, and it should be to you. Buy stock in Exxon and take it up with them, morons. Don’t take it up with long-gone masters or our most treasured institutions.
What did Claude Monet or the museums that house his work do? Same with Leonardo da Vinci? What did The Louvre and her hundreds of her visitors do? Please, please tell me now? (I always need to work in a Duran reference, sorry)
Left-wing activism has become replaced by utter stupidity. I’m no fan of Joe Biden, but his own voters raising Palestinian flags and yelling at him during speeches to free terrorists and eschew perhaps our greatest ally, Israel, is disrespectful and defies logic. Stupidity. I’m not voting for him, but I also don’t like people disrespecting the sitting Commander-in-Chief. It is akin to aiding and abetting our enemies, which are many. Use the ballot if you are unhappy.
That last graf may seem a tad off-topic, but it isn’t. This is a column about idiocy and disrespect for artists and institutions. Whether you throw soup at the Mona Lisa and disrupt The Louvre, throw paint on a Monet, glue your hands to the wall, or attempt to harass the President of the United States (good luck with that btw. Doesn’t end well), repugnant, obnoxious behavior is disgusting and is growing very old, very fast. And not just with conservatives like me. Change your ways, people. Respect and decorum is the new black. It must be.