Girl with a Pearl Earring will quickly return to Mauritshuis display, director says

The famous painting Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer will hopefully soon be hanging in the Mauritshuis again, museum director Martine Gosselink told Nieuwsuur on Thursday evening. A climate change activist glued himself to the glass in front of the painting on Thursday while another poured soup over him. The Girl with a Pearl Earring itself remained unharmed, but the frame and the back plate sustained some damage, Gosselink said. “But that’s repairable.”

The police arrested three Belgian men. The action organizers said they had specifically selected Vermeer’s masterpiece to cause as much commotion as possible. “Keep your paws off our stuff,’ said Gosselink about the action in Nieuwsuur. “You have so many ways to demonstrate and make your point. Do it in a different way.”

Among the detainees is Wouter M., who conducted several climate campaigns in Belgium. He previously disrupted the Tour of Flanders by running up the course during the final sprint. He also tied himself to a goalpost during a cup match between RSC Anderlecht and AA Ghent.

The activists whore shirts of the Just Stop Oil action group during the action. Though the British group said that it was not behind the protest. The spokesperson for the Belgian activists confirmed this. He said the activists belong to an independently operating spin-off of the Belgian branch of Extinction Rebellion.