Climate Protesters Glue Themselves to a Botticelli

In July 2022, activists from the Italian group Ultima Generazione glued their hands to the protective glass over Botticelli's 'Primavera' at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence — one of the most beloved paintings of the Renaissance.

Their target was deliberate: an image of spring and abundance, chosen to dramatise fears of a future of climate-driven scarcity. The masterpiece, behind glass, was unharmed.

It was an early entry in the worldwide wave of art-gallery climate protests, which would soon spread from Florence to London, Potsdam and beyond.

Image: “Botticelli-primavera” — Sandro Botticelli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.