On Friday, two Norwegian activists from Just Stop Oil (Stopp Oljetinga) were arrested after throwing orange paint at the “Monolith”, a sculpture in Oslo’s Vigeland park.

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They were protesting against the disappointing results of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), which will end today in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

“COP 27 was a dream that ended in great disappointment, even more so in a year in which Norway will hand out 53 more oil exploration licenses. The governments of the world are leading us into social collapse,” said Stopp Oljetinga.

The “Monolith” is a 17 meter high work containing 121 naked and intertwined human figures sculpted by Gustav Vigeland. Just Stop Oil explained that these works of art will not be damaged because the paint can be easily removed.

The tweet read: “Aruanu, 26, and Rachel, 20, citizens supporting Last Renovation, threw orange paint on Charles Ray’s ‘Horse and Rider’ statue at the Paris Bourse.”

Last week, other Norwegian climate activists tried to hang on to “The Scream”, a painting by Edvard Munch on display at the National Museum in Oslo.

In recent months, environmental activists have taken similar symbolic actions around the world to demand an end to oil extraction and its damaging effects on the global climate.

Recent protests linked to famous paintings include Monet’s ‘The Haystacks’ (Germany), Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ (England) and Picasso’s ‘Massacre in Korea’ (Australia).