Maastricht lights up as a global center for art lovers during Europe’s largest annual fair. This year, 20 percent more visitors came in the first few days, with the 4.6 million euro sale of Van Gogh’s «Tête de Paysanne à la Coiffe Blanche» a key highlight.
The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) closed its doors at the Maastricht Convention and Conference Center (MECC) on March 14. Artworks running the gamut of 7,000 years of history were on display by 270 exhibitors from 22 countries. It wasn’t just modern and contemporary works of art changing hands within minutes of the fair’s opening, but significant antiquities, including an 18th-century Chinese Huang Hali armchair, and a Roman marble sculpture from the 1st-2nd century AD.
The most expensive work at the fair. Vassily Kandinksy’s «Murnau mit Kirche II», 1910. (Image: Tefaf, Loraine Bodewes)
A Kandinsky Triumph
One piece shone above the others, garnering all the attention early on, particularly during the exclusive opening day for invited guests only. It was a work by Wassily Kandinsky «Murnau mit Kirche II» exhibited by Landau Fine Arts from Montreal. The oil painting is from 1910 and right at the outset of the artist’s pioneering path to abstraction. It was a year before the creation of Blauen Reiters almanac and once again showed both his and the movement’s continued appeal.
It was sold a year ago for $39.8 million at Sotheby’s in London, making it the most expensive painting by Kandinsky to change hands at auction. Now it is up for sale again although the price is only being disclosed on request. Still, it is not expected to change hands for less than $50 million.
Kees van Dongen, Nu au chapeau, 1908. Bailly Gallery – Geneva — Paris. (Image: Jitske Nap)
All Price Levels
TEFAF is known for its quality and diversity, from old masters to Asian artworks, antiques, and jewelry. Ruud Flipse, an art collector for many years and partner at wealth management provider Swisspartners, maintains: «It is the stability of the quality and something that no other fair can offer. There is something for every taste and budget – whether 5,000 euros or 50 million euros.»
As an example, enthusiasts of the COBRA avant-garde group were in a position to buy smaller works (30 by 40 cm) from Dutch painter Corneille (Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo), Eugène Brands, and Karel Appel for only 7,000 euros. For Flipse and many other visitors, TEFAF is the best fair of its kind worldwide.
Edgar Degas. Two Dancers. ca. 1890. Galerie R+V (Image: Ruud Flipse)
City and Convention
The atmosphere that surrounds TEFAF also lends Maastricht a sense of vitality. During the weeks the fair is on, it sometimes seems like the entire Netherlands is going there to visit. That is also something that helps exchanges between gallery owners and visitors and offers a deeper perspective of the world of artists.
Video installation by Isaac Julien at the Bonnefantenmuseum Maastricht. (Image: Ruud Flipse)
Moved to Tears
The Bonnefantenmuseum fleshes out the convention experience with a retrospective of UK video artist Isaac Julien. His moving video installation «What Freedom Is To Me» was created in cooperation with the Tate Modern and the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, moving visitors to tears by raising the important question as to what freedom means in the world today, according to Flipse.
