Primer homenaje a Cristóbal Colón – José Garnelo – Red Paint Attack (2025)
In October 2025, two environmental activist members of the Spanish group Futuro Vegetal entered Madrid’s Naval Museum and deliberately threw red paint onto Primer homenaje a Cristóbal Colón (1892) by José Garnelo. The paint struck the left side of the canvas, forcing museum staff to intervene and the painting to be removed for conservation treatment. The attack was carried out as an environmental protest, but it resulted in the defacement of a protected historical artwork and led to the activists’ arrest under Spain’s cultural heritage laws.
