Man sits on 'Van Gogh' chair, shatters art piece covered in Swarovski crystals

A tourist crushed a piece of art made with thousands of Swarovski crystals at an Italian museum. The incident was captured on security cameras. It shows a man lowering himself into the precious chair. Instead of pretending to sit on it, he puts all his weight down on it. The chair shatters to the ground, and with it, the man also starts falling down as he tries to stop.

The woman with him immediately moves forward and holds him, and they both run away from the scene.

The incident happened at The Palazzo Maffei in Verona some time back and the museum recently shared a video of the tourists on Facebook, showing utter disrespect for the piece of art. It said in a note that the couple knew they weren't allowed to even pretend to sit on it. So they waited for security to leave the area for the photo op.

Sharing a video, the museum called it an "irresponsible gesture", adding that they did not want to "limit ourselves to a simple report of what happened", and instead wanted to use it as an "opportunity to reflect and raise awareness among the public."

"Art must be admired, experienced, but above all respected."

The art piece is called the “Van Gogh” chair created by the artist Nicola Bolla and is extremely delicate. The name has been derived from the fact that it resembles a chair in one of the Dutch painter’s most famous pieces.

"What you have just seen is not a joke, but an episode that really happened in the rooms of Palazzo Maffei. A superficial and disrespectful behaviour has put the integrity of a work of art at risk: the “Van Gogh” chair by the artist Nicola Bolla was damaged by some visitors," The Palazzo Maffei wrote.

The museum also shared an update on the chair, saying that it has been restored. "A heartfelt thanks goes to the police, our security department and the restorers, whose precious work allowed the work to be recovered."

It is unclear whether the people responsible for the damage have been tracked down or if they will face any action.

Couple slammed, others blame museum

Meanwhile, people on social media are shocked to see the way the couple acted at the museum. A user commented, "How vulgar!!! They must be identified and punished for the damage done."

"I hope they pay for the damage, and if it is priceless, at least they should give him a nice fine," another added.

There were others who thought the museum was at fault for not securing the chair and leaving it unattended.

"Why is the chair placed where people can use it? Sounds like a skill issue from your side too," a person commented.

Another user wrote, "The fault lies with the management for not putting controllers inside the halls!!"