Paris, 11 February 2024 (dpa/MIA) — French climate activists have once again thrown soup at a major work of art - this time a painting by Claude Monet, just about two weeks after protestors did the same to the Mona Lisa from Leonardo da Vinci.

Two activists from Riposte alimentaire, or the food response, tipped the soup onto the work "Spring" by Monet in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, the group reported on X on Saturday.

The museum confirmed this to French media. The two women were detained, according to the local prefecture.

Culture Minister Rachida Dati said she could not understand how such an act would advance the "cause that you claim to serve." She assured the museum her support.

The museum announced that it would press charges for vandalism, the newspaper Le Parisien reported. The oil painting is protected by a glass pane, but its condition will be checked.

Riposte alimentaire is a collective that emerged from the French movement Dernière Renovation (Last Renovation). Its actions are aimed at radically changing society on a climatic and social level.

Previously, two environmental activists threw an orange liquid onto the glass protecting the "Mona Lisa" in the Louvre in Paris.

A video clip posted on X showed the two women splattering the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci with a thick, soupy liquid to the gasps of the crowd of visitors.

One of the activists then removed her jacket to reveal a T-shirt with the slogan "Riposte alimentaire."

"What is more important, art or the right to healthy and sustainable food?" one of the women shouted.

French Culture Minister Dati said the Mona Lisa was "like our heritage."

"Nothing can justify it becoming a target," she wrote on X.

Following the incident, museum staff erected black screens all around the da Vinci masterpiece, hiding the two activists, and cleared the room.

The activists were detained, and the room was reopened to museum-goers an hour later.

The "Mona Lisa," which has been behind special protective glass since 2005, has been vandalized before. Cream cake was smeared over it in May 2022.

And in 1965, it was hit twice: First, a man sprayed the painting with acid paint, severely damaging the canvas. A few months later, a young man from Bolivia threw a stone at the painting. The protective glass broke and the splinters caused damage to the image, which then had to be restored.