This Tuesday, a man visiting the Palazzo Maffei museum in Verona, Italy, accidentally broke a priceless art chair after sitting on it for a pose. While some critics call this criminal vandalism, I think the other way. The man had no illegal intent, and all he wanted was just a photo, not to destroy this priceless artwork.

On June 17th, 2025, a man and his wife, unidentified by security, visited the museum, where the man sat on an artwork known as the “Van Gogh Chair,” which collapsed under his weight. Immediately after the incident, he and his wife left the room without telling anything to the museum staff anything.

This chair, sculpted by contemporary artist Nicola Bolla, is a 3-dimensional visualization of one of Van Gogh’s famous paintings, the Van Gogh Chair. Completely covered in Swarovski crystals, this chair is estimated to be worth about 50,000 dollars. It was placed in a completely unguarded room with no barriers or signs showing that it shouldn’t be touched.

Calling this accident a crime means that this tourist purposefully wanted to break this piece of artwork. However, we can clearly see that this is not the case. All the man wanted to do was what most tourists typically do at museums: interact, pose, and take pictures with the artwork, while not knowing of the chair’s fragility and value.

Some people may say that not knowing is not an excuse, but in this case it doesn’t apply. Many visitors to museums will try to interact with the artwork, and this man is no exception. He was just trying to experience and appreciate the art, which is what many museums even encourage visitors to do. If the museum wanted the chair to remain untouched, they should’ve at least put up a barrier around it or a sign signaling its fragility.