Activist Charged With Throwing Soup on Priceless Artwork Has Been Sentenced

A person who was arrested on allegations that they threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's Sunflowers learned their fate in March 2026, when they were sentenced.

The activist was working with the group Just Stop Oil, and they made international headlines when they chucked the can of tomato soup at the famous picture while it hung in London's National Gallery back in the fall of 2022. The incident drew international attention, as did other forms of protest from the group.

While people initially voiced their frustration over the protest due to the iconic nature of the painting that was targeted, feelings quickly shifted once sentencing was handed down, since many felt the punishment didn't fit the crime. However, there may be some misleading info circulating about just how much time the soup throwing activist will be serving as a result of the incident, compounding frustrations.

Here's everything we know about the sentencing.

News broke on X about the sentencing of Phoebe Plummer. According to a post from @leonsimons8, the non-binary activist was sentenced to two years in prison for their part in throwing tomato soup onto the famous floral painting.

According to The Art Newspaper, Plummer was arrested alongside Anna Holland for the crime. On Sept. 27, 2024, the pair appeared before a judge who said they "couldn't have cared less" if they had damaged the painting as a result of their protest.

The two were found guilty of their crimes, and Plummer was sentenced to an additional three months for another separate protest, while Holland was sentenced to 20 months.

However, the renewed interest in the case has shed new light on the sentencing, which drew some criticism from those who believed the activists would spend two years behind bars for a crime that didn't even cause any damage. Arguments also broke out online, including on Reddit where people debated how much time was served.

Plummer ended up spending just a few months in jail alongside another activist for their role in blocking the M25 motorway, which caused days of disruptions along the route. However, in the end, Plummer received a two-year suspended sentence alongside 150 hours of community service for the soup incident, which some thought was more appropriate for the crime that caused less than $10,000 in damage, according to The Telegraph.

The attention garnered by the soup incident led to other similar protests, including a 2024 protest from the environmental group Riposte Alimentaire (which CNN says can be translated to mean "food response") the involved throwing orange-colored soup onto the Mona Lisa.

Fortunately, just like with the Vincent Van Gogh, the iconic painting was hidden behind a protective barrier and didn't suffer any damage as a result of the protest.

Unlike with the Just Stop Oil protests, which focused on climate change and getting global governments to put more focus on sustainable fuels, CNN says the Mona Lisa protest was done in an effort to establish “the integration of food into the general social security system.”