The director of London's National Gallery, Gabriele Finaldi, has spoken out against the environmental activist group Just Stop Oil, which targeted the museum with protests between 2022 and 2024. The group's actions, including splashing liquids on van Gogh's Sunflowers and hammering at a Velázquez display case, were met with both admiration and condemnation. Finaldi described the protests as 'a sad thing' and emphasized that the artworks were not the target of the activists' grievances. He suggested that the group's goal was to gain front-page coverage for their cause, rather than genuinely addressing the issues they sought to highlight. The National Gallery was not the only museum to experience environmentalist protests during this period, but it was a key site for the movement. The group ceased its protests in 2025, following the UK's adoption of a new climate policy. The director's comments reflect a nuanced perspective on the complex relationship between activism and cultural institutions.