The selfies that destroy art

In Florence, the story has become a metaphor: a visitor literally stepped into a painting to take a photo. The ensuing scandal sparked a debate: should selfies (and similar images) be banned in sacred places of art? It's difficult to establish clear rules. Two months ago, in front of Pope Francis's coffin, hundreds of faithful, after waiting in line for hours, were taking self-portraits without pause. Until the next day, the Vatican gendarmerie received the order to ban such obscenity.

The victim of our time is Portrait of Ferdinand de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany, a late 17th-century work by the Florentine painter Anton Domenico Gabbiani, exhibited at the Uffizi Gallery. It was severely damaged by a man trying to pose next to it. The incident, seemingly trivial: an Italian man in his forties tripped as a woman accompanying him was about to take his picture. The impact caused a tear in the lower part of the canvas, right where Ferdinand's right foot appears. The perpetrator of the damage was identified and reported. The restoration is underway, and the 18th-century exhibition will reopen next week.

But it wasn't just an accident, as demonstrated by the reaction of the director of the Uffizi, Simone Verde, who took the case seriously: "We must set very precise limits, preventing behavior that is incompatible with the purpose of our institutions or with respect for cultural heritage."

According to Verde, "the problem of those who come to museums to create memes or upload content to social media is becoming increasingly common." This is not an isolated case: just a week earlier, at Verona's Palazzo Maffei, a couple of visitors, also trying to take a photo, practically destroyed Italian artist Nicola Bolla's Van Gogh chair. The museum's director, Vanessa Carlon, released a video of the incident to raise awareness about the phenomenon.

A new code of conduct has yet to be defined at the Uffizi. For now, no specific measures are planned, beyond the selfie stick ban, which has been in place for years.

The director of the Florence museum announces measures: "We must set very precise limits."

It's not easy, moreover, to legislate on education, "especially cultural education," Alessandro Zuccari, one of Italy's most renowned art historians, explains to La Vanguardia . "This fact doesn't surprise me; there are possible precautions, such as assigning a security guard to each gallery, but the problem is more complex: for some, everything is irrelevant, there's no understanding, they take photos of things they don't understand, always with the need to appear."

Context also matters: “It's one thing to take a picture in front of the Trevi Fountain, which was designed to impress; it's quite another to do so in front of a 17th-century portrait. In an exhibition, you should act with respect.”

Arturo Galansino, director of the Palazzo Strozzi, home to major Florentine exhibitions, also has reservations about a ban: “Risks are always present, and when we mount an exhibition, we consider safety measures. That said, I don't believe in bans: we have to find a balance between protecting the works and allowing everyone to express their connection with them according to their sensitivity.”

Art critic Jonathan Jones, writing in The Guardian, asked: “But is it fair to consider anyone who takes a selfie with a painting, or shares their travels on social media, part of a barbarian horde bent on destroying civilization?”

According to Jones, selfies aren't always a narcissistic act, but can be "a form of love, a way of saying, 'I was here, and this moved me.' Considering smartphone use in museums a crime is reactionary and snobbish."

According to art critic Jonathan Jones, banning selfies would be a snobbish and reactionary act.

Zuccari listens to this thesis and concludes: “Photographing whatever you want is a right, but behaving respectfully is even more so.”