A security camera captured the moment when a tourist broke a Swarovski crystal-studded museum display dubbed the “Van Gogh” chair after sitting in it.
The incident occurred in April, but has been circulating on social media after just being released by the Palazzo Maffei museum, which is located in the Italian city of Verona.
The video shows a woman at first pretending to sit in the chair art piece, which was made by Italian artist Nicola Bolla. Next, her male companion gets into the same pose, only in his case puts his weight on the chair, causing both of the front legs to buckle. The man stumbles before the camera captures the pair rushing out of the room.
“They waited for the staff to leave the room,” museum director Vanessa Carlon said in a video posted on its social media. “And then … off they went, indifferent to what had happened.”
“Sometimes we lose our brains to take a picture, and we don’t think about the consequences,” Carlon added. “Of course it was an accident, but these two people left without speaking to us—that isn’t an accident. This is a nightmare for any museum.”
“On the chair was a note warning people not to touch, and of course it is placed on a pedestal, so it’s quite clear it’s not a real chair,” Carlotta Menegazzo, an art historian who works at Palazzo Maffei, told BBC. She added that the sculpture only resembled a chair, but was actually crafted out of crystal-studded tinfoil.
The piece, which was inspired by Van Gogh’s famous 1888 painting “Van Gogh’s Chair,” has since been repaired by the museum’s restoration department and is on display to the public again. Reps said the video has been released as a reminder to visitors about how to treat the artwork at their facility.
“Art must be respected!” the museum said in a press release, per USA Today. They added that the video was released “to make this serious event an opportunity for reflection for everyone.”
The couple has not been identified.
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
A security camera captured the moment when a tourist broke a Swarovski crystal-studded museum display dubbed the “Van Gogh” chair after sitting in it.
The incident occurred in April, but has been circulating on social media after just being released by the Palazzo Maffei museum, which is located in the Italian city of Verona.
The video shows a woman at first pretending to sit in the chair art piece, which was made by Italian artist Nicola Bolla. Next, her male companion gets into the same pose, only in his case puts his weight on the chair, causing both of the front legs to buckle. The man stumbles before the camera captures the pair rushing out of the room.
“They waited for the staff to leave the room,” museum director Vanessa Carlon said in a video posted on its social media. “And then … off they went, indifferent to what had happened.”
“Sometimes we lose our brains to take a picture, and we don’t think about the consequences,” Carlon added. “Of course it was an accident, but these two people left without speaking to us—that isn’t an accident. This is a nightmare for any museum.”
“On the chair was a note warning people not to touch, and of course it is placed on a pedestal, so it’s quite clear it’s not a real chair,” Carlotta Menegazzo, an art historian who works at Palazzo Maffei, told BBC. She added that the sculpture only resembled a chair, but was actually crafted out of crystal-studded tinfoil.
The piece, which was inspired by Van Gogh’s famous 1888 painting “Van Gogh’s Chair,” has since been repaired by the museum’s restoration department and is on display to the public again. Reps said the video has been released as a reminder to visitors about how to treat the artwork at their facility.
“Art must be respected!” the museum said in a press release, per USA Today. They added that the video was released “to make this serious event an opportunity for reflection for everyone.”
The couple has not been identified.
“}]]
