Protesters smear paint on Degas sculpture case at National Gallery of Art in DC

Protesters painted the display case containing Edgar Degas’s famed “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” sculpture at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, as video circulating online shows. It is the latest in a string of similar protests targeting art to bring attention to the climate crisis. 

In footage shared by The Washington Post, two protesters smeared red and black paint over the sculpture’s case and pedestal. They were both wearing dark clothing.

“We need our leaders to take serious action, to tell us the truth about what is happening with the climate,” one of the protesters said in the clip as the pair sat cross-legged, paint-covered hands up, in front of the artwork, adding as authorities arrived that “we are parents and our first job is to protect our children."

"We are adults. We should be at home working," the other protester said in the video. "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."

The Degas, which had been displayed in a plexiglass case, was taken out of view and will undergo damage assessment from the museum's conservation team, National Gallery of Art Director Kaywin Feldman told The Hill. The gallery that housed the artwork is closed until further notice, and the FBI is assisting in an active investigation.

"We unequivocally denounce this physical attack on one of our works of art and will continue to share information as it becomes available," Feldman said.

Climate activists last year splashed pea soup onto a Vincent van Gogh painting in Rome and threw tomato soup onto van Gogh's iconic "Sunflowers" in London’s National Gallery. In Australia, activitsts graffittied and glued themselves to art by Andy Warhol — and in The Hague, activitsts glued themselves to Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” painting.