Once again, Maastricht was the site of the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) on March 7th. Saturday is the first day the general public is welcome to attend, after two invitation-only days. Museum representatives from prominent American and European institutions are scheduled to attend at the VIP viewings armed with shopping lists. It is not uncommon for business transactions to be finalized on the spot at the expo.
Vincent van Gogh’s Tête de paysanne à la coiffe blanche, painted circa 1884, is attracting much interest in the Netherlands due to its estimated five million euro price tag. But when compared to, say, Wassily Kandinsky’s 1910 painting “Blick auf Murnau mit Kirche II,” this price is relatively low. Following reported by The New York Times, the art fair acknowledged that the owner is seeking at least fifty million dollars for that item.
Controversy surrounded the painting for a long time. After a long and contentious process involving the Dutch Restitutions Committee, the item was finally returned to the heirs of Jewish art collector Johanna Margarethe Stern-Lippmann. The Committee investigates allegations about works of art that allegedly changed hands under dubious circumstances during WWII.
Following the Committee’s 2022 ruling in favour of the family, the Eindhoven municipal government removed it from the Van Abbemuseum and gave it back to the Stern-Lippmann family. After that, they chose to sell the artwork at auction the next year. The present owner paid forty-five million dollars to get it.
Two works by Frans Hals, whose work has recently been rediscovered thanks to a special exhibition at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, will also be on show at TEFAF. Among his pieces that will be on display is a 1635 picture of a man wearing a hat. The second one dates from 1630–1633 and features a bearded guy. The TEFAF was unable to provide any details on the requested sum for these two pieces of art.
Another notable work is “Man in Red Hat,” created in southern Germany at the tail end of the fifteenth century. The work’s high craftsmanship and nonreligious subject matter make it stand out from other works of the era. An anonymous artist’s work is being sold by an art gallery hoping to earn around 4 million euros.
Famous painters’ works may be found at TEFAF. “Double painting with the appearance of a Vermeer figure in the face of Abraham Lincoln” is a painting by Johannes Vermeer and an artwork by Salvador Dalí, both representing former US President Lincoln. Art lovers can also purchase sculptures by Auguste Rodin and paintings by Pablo Picasso.
Eighteen of the participating exhibitors are making their debut at the event, bringing the total number of exhibitors from over 20 nations to almost 270. The website boasts that TEFAF collects 7,000 years of art history, spanning from antiquity to the present day, and is, therefore, widely acknowledged as the world’s preeminent fair for great art, design, and antiquities.
There should be around 50,000 attendees, and the private jets of a select few will soar in. Extinction Rebellion has announced protests against this. According to the TEFAF, the police and the city government should handle this matter. Meanwhile, the art festival has confirmed that the group is within its rights to protest and assured that it is “always prepared for everything, for as much as we possibly can be.”
In earlier times, this was insufficient. When a shocking armed robbery occurred at the event two years ago, it became clear.
Image Courtesy : TEFAF
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