Couple destroys 'Van Gogh chair' by sitting on it in Italian museum
The scene, captured by CCTV cameras, was published on the Instagram account of Palazzo Maffei in Verona, which hopes to raise public awareness of the need to respect the works on display.
Skip the ad Skip the ad"The nightmare of all museums." On June 12, the Palazzo Maffei in Verona released CCTV footage of a rather edifying incident: a couple of tourists were filmed destroying a contemporary work of art by sitting on it.
The scene took place in an exhibition room, at a time when security guards were temporarily absent. Taking advantage of their absence, visitors attempted to take a "sensational" photo, the museum explained on Instagram. The man can be seen miming a sitting posture on what appeared to be a chair. But instead of pretending, he actually sat down... causing the work to collapse.
Entitled Van Gogh , the piece is a sculpture by Italian artist Nicola Bolla. Inspired by the chair painted by Vincent van Gogh, it captures its apparent simplicity, but its structure is actually very fragile: hollow, held together by aluminum foil and entirely covered in polished Swarovski glass crystals.
An art historian at the museum told the BBC that there was a warning on the work, which was placed on a pedestal, explicitly asking people not to touch it.
As seen in the footage, the couple left the room in a hurry and could not be identified. For several days, museum staff feared the work was irreparably damaged. A restoration was finally completed.
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