Mona Lisa splattered in soup at Louvre Museum in Paris by food protesters

• Two food protesters hurled soup at Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa in the Louvre Museum, in Paris.
• Bullet-proof glass protects the world-famous image.  No damage has been reported.
• The act of vandalism follows protests by French farmers demanding better pay and living conditions.

Two food protesters hurled soup at the world-famous Mona Lisa painting in the Paris Louvre Museum on Sunday.

The priceless artwork is protected behind a glass panel. Museum authorities have reported no damage to date.

Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece was left covered in what appeared to be tomato soup, after which the two protesters made a speech about sustainable agriculture and the food supply chain.

Videos on social media show the activists wearing T-shirts wearing shirts with the words "Food Counterattack" emblazoned on them in French.

The footage shows two people throwing soup at the da Vinci portrait while Louvre museumgoers can be heard groaning and saying "No."

The soup splattered onto the protective casing covering the painting.

"What's the most important thing?" they shouted in French. "Art, or right to a healthy and sustainable food?" They added: "Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work."

French farmers have been protesting and threatening roadblocks around Paris this month, demanding better pay and living conditions, Reuters reports.

The 16th-century Italian Renaissance painting, perhaps the most widely recognized artwork in the world, holds the Guinness World Record for the highest-known painting insurance valuation in history.

It was valued at $100 million in 1962, equivalent to about $1 billion in 2023.

In 2022, a similar protest at the UK's National Gallery faced backlash when anti-oil protesters threw a can of tomato soup onto Van Gogh's "Sunflowers."

The Mona Lisa has been protected by bulletproof glass since 1956 after one vandal threw acid at it and, a few months later, another smashed it with a rock, Harper's Bazaar reports.

The Mona Lisa has been the target of other acts of protest and vandalism.

In 1974, while it was being exhibited in Tokyo, a woman sprayed the Mona Lisa with red paint, the New York Times reported. The woman was a wheelchair user who was protesting the museum's lack of accommodations for disabled people, per Harper's Bazaar.

In 2009, a "disgruntled Russian woman" who had been denied French citizenship threw a ceramic mug at the painting, per Harper's Bazaar. The mug shattered after hitting the safety glass.

The most recent instance before today's attack was in 2022. A man disguised as an older woman smeared cake on the safety glass after failing to smash it.

He threw rose petals around before being escorted out by security.

On his way out, he told fellow museumgoers, "There are people who are destroying the Earth. Think about it. All the artists tell you think about the Earth, all artists think about the Earth, that's why I did this. Think about the planet."