Absolute nightmare at the Palazzo Maffei museum in Verona, Italy, the other day as a tourist stupidly sat on an artwork known as ‘Van Gogh’s chair’ and managed to break it.

The artwork, by Italian artist Nicola Bolla, is adorned with hundreds of Swarovski crystals which obviously makes it very fragile and delicate and expensive. So plonking your backside on it is never going to end well:

🔥🚨BREAKING This ‘Idiot’ tourist sits on and shatters ‘Van Gogh’ chair made with thousands of Swarovski crystals. pic.twitter.com/nm2WxeKtlL

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) June 13, 2025

Oh dear. I like how they got out of there as fast as possible like they thought no one would find out who did it. In the end, the museum did end up restoring the chair and have put it back on display, but not before they ripped into the couple on their social media (translated to English below)

An irresponsible gesture at Palazzo Maffei.

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 behavior 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, who, waiting for the security personnel to leave, chose to take a “spectacular” photo, ignoring every rule of respect for art and cultural heritage.

We have decided not to limit ourselves to a simple report of what happened. We want to transform this episode into an opportunity to reflect and raise awareness among the public: art must be admired, experienced, but above all respected. Always.

It doesn’t look like they’re going to file any charges against the couple so I guess they’re just going to turn it into a lesson for everyone else. Although some people reckon the museum should have cordoned off the chair, even though it’s blatantly an art piece on display and not a real chair you’re supposed to sit on.

Still, I suppose where there’s a chair, there’s a person that’s going to sit in it. That’s just human nature. Maybe they can take the CCTV and put it on loop next to the chair? Might be a cool little addition to the exhibit. In fact, this whole story may have even increased the chair’s value? Wouldn’t surprise me.

For the ‘bored’ security guard who drew eyes on a £740,000 painting after he was pressured by a group of teenage girls, click HERE.