A Swedish court acquitted six climate activists from the group Återställ Våtmarker (Restore Wetlands) who smeared red paint on the protective glass of Claude Monet's painting *The Artist’s Garden at Giverny* (1900) at the National Museum of Sweden in June 2023. The painting, on loan from the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, was unharmed; the court ruled the activists had no intent to damage the work, noting they used water-soluble paint and targeted a glass-covered piece, though some paint reached the frame.
The ruling highlights the ongoing tension between climate activism and cultural heritage protection. The acquittal sets a legal precedent in Sweden for protest actions that avoid permanent damage to artworks, while the museum condemned the act as an unacceptable attack on cultural heritage. This case is part of a broader wave of climate protests targeting high-profile art institutions worldwide, forcing debates about the limits of protest and the preservation of art.