Museum in Italy denounces tourist who broke artwork

The Palazzo Maffei museum in Verona, Italy, has filed a complaint against a tourist who damaged a chair made of Swarovski crystals by sitting on it. The information was announced last Monday (16) by the institution, without specifying when the complaint was made to the police.

The episode, defined by Maffei as "every museum's nightmare", happened on Thursday (12), when the exhibition room's security cameras caught a man, who after waiting for the security guards to leave the room, sat on the chair to be photographed by a woman, but the work "Van Gogh", by artist Nicola Bolla, could not support the visitor's weight and broke.

The middle-aged couple, who ignored warnings that the chair was off-limits, quickly fled the scene. The images were posted on the museum's social media and went viral, causing much outrage among users.

"A superficial and disrespectful behavior has put the integrity of a work of art at risk. We have decided not to limit ourselves to a simple account of what happened. We want to transform this episode into an occasion to reflect and raise awareness: art must be admired and experienced, but above all respected. Always," the historic Italian palace wrote on the day of the incident.

The work, inspired by the straw chair painted by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh, was restored and returned to the exhibition room.

In an interview with Fanpage, Bolla stated that he did not see the damage to his work as entirely negative, but rather "ironic".

"There is so much talk about art as a form of interaction with the public, and what is more interactive than that? The damage that these people have caused? People must be involved with art, they must react. Indifference [to the work of art] is what creates the most problems for the artist," commented the chair's creator.

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