Dejeuner sur l’herbe spoiled by rubbish

Some of the most beautiful paintings of nature have been used in a new campaign by supermarket chain E.Leclerc… which has seen them brought ‘up to date’ with litter disfiguring them.

Posters in Paris Métro stations, full-page adverts in freesheets and elsewhere show Impressionist scenes such as Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l'herbe spoiled by polythene bags hanging from trees and with cans and plastic cups littering the ground.

It is part of a Leclerc clean-up campaign, Nettoyons la nature #NLN2017, that this year marks its 20th anniversary in promoting recycling and collecting rubbish that litters the streets and countryside.

The Impressionist paintings have been recreated by British artist Martin Hargreaves to show the pollution in the countryside

Last year the company organised clean-up events across the country and collected a total of 60,000 tonnes of rubbish – the equivalent of six Eiffel Towers.

The company called in British artist Martin Hargreaves – well known for giving artworks a humorous slant – to recreate Impressionist works, from an era where the beauty of the countryside was being celebrated, but with a landscape covered in cigarette butts, cans, household rubbish and abandoned cars.

Law changes last year banned the use of plastic bags in shops because the vast majority of the 17 billion bags given away in shops each year were thrown away after one use.