The closing of the 37th edition of TEFAF Maastricht last night was met with consensus among exhibitors: the fair, after the Covid years, was reborn, and during its eight days of opening (March 8 to 14: read our report here), nearly 50,000 visitors gathered to admire and purchase more than 7,000 years of art history, presented by 270 exhibitors from 22 countries.
International collectors made their presence strongly felt, and sales of works destined to enrich collections around the world were robust. Museums were also well-represented, with 300 directors, 650 curators and 40 patron groups exploring the fair’s refined corridors in search of new additions to their collections.
TEFAF, as a foundation, places great emphasis on education through the cultural program talks, which were attended by more than 1,000 visitors this year. In addition, ten young museum professionals had the opportunity to enrich their knowledge and establish valuable relationships during a five-day curatorial course designed specifically to enable emerging talent to learn from the vast international community that gathers annually at TEFAF.
TEFAF President Hidde van Seggelen summed up the fair this way, “TEFAF Maastricht 2024 has demonstrated the incredible ability of art to unite communities and art enthusiasts of all ages. We are honored by the overwhelming response this year and would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our sponsors, partners and exhibitors for their continued support. In particular, we thank AXA XL, which has been an unwavering supporter of the fair for the past 20 years, and we look forward to 2025.”
Several themes and trends developed during the fair, starting with thejuxtaposition of Old and New. Aronson Delftware commissioned the work Whispers of Time from Anna Volkova, who created two beautiful sculptures of delicate porcelain flowers set in fragments of 17th-century Delft pottery. Both works have been sold to private collectors for six-figure sums. Charles Ede exhibited, along with colleague Sean Kelly, antique art on contemporary furniture designed by Gloria Cortina in the fair’s new “Focus” section, created to bring together avant-garde artists from different mediums and periods. This juxtaposition of ancient and modern not only emphasizes artistic continuity across the centuries, but also offers insight into how artworks can dialogue and enrich each other, defying temporal and stylistic divisions.
Much space, as also noted in our report, is given to women artists. Considering that International Women’s Day coincided with the preview of the fair, it was not surprising to see women artists featured prominently in many galleries. Rob Smeets Gallery, for example, chose to feature mostly women artists with works destined for both private collections and North American museums. Paul Smeets commented, “This was one of the best fairs ever for the gallery.” This emphasis on women’s art is meant to emphasize the need to give visibility and recognition to their works. Through the presentation of artworks by female artists, after all, galleries help break down gender stereotypes by promoting diversity and inclusion in the art world.
TEFAF is renowned for high-value masterpieces and therefore major sales, and this year was no different, with multiple seven-figure sales. However, TEFAF is best known for the quality and excellent provenance of artworks, which can also be purchased at more affordable prices, attracting new collectors. This aspect was highlighted for the first time this year by the TEFAF Insider’s Collecting Guide, which drew attention to proposals with prices under 20,000 euros. Alessandra di Castro was among the 56 exhibitors who participated in this initiative, selling a Murano glass vase originally presented at the 1934 Venice Biennale to a U.S. collector. This encouragement may thus open the door to a new generation of collectors, giving them the opportunity to approach art and build their collections in a more accessible way.
Finally, in light of geopolitical events, the preservation of culture took center stage, and the TEFAF Summit, making its debut this year, saw a moved audience listening to the efforts of museum professionals in times of crisis to safeguard the rich cultural heritage of their countries. This reminded everyone present that the preservation of cultural heritage is second only to the preservation of human life.
It also confirmed, as in the days of previews, the success of sales. Below is a rich gallery with pictures of the main works sold and, where communicated, also the sale price.
Matteo Salamon has sold Italian painter Andrea Bonaiuti’s Crucifixion with Two Angels, circa 1360, for a five-figure sum to a new private collector from Switzerland who is establishing his own museum
Caretto & Occhinegro sold a 16th-century triptych depicting the Transfiguration of Christ by Belgian painter and sculptor Pieter Coecke Van Aelst to a Dutch collector for about 850,000 euros. Van Aelst is thought to have been inspired by Bellini’s Transfiguration, which he would have seen in Venice during his return journey from Byzantium to the Netherlands
Nicolaas Teeuwisse made an important sale to the Rjiksmuseum, which acquired The Rest during the Flight into Egypt, an extremely rare drawing by Dutch painter Gerrit Pietersz
The Caylus Gallery in Madrid (booth 364) reported the sale of several five-figure and six-figure pieces, including Christ on the Cross by Francesco Buoneri, known as Cecco del Caravaggio, purchased by a major American museum for 280,000 euros
Zebregs&Röell Fine Art sold Gesina ter Borch’s only signed painting, Portrait of Moses ter Borch at the Age of Two, to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for 3 million euros with support from the Rijksmuseum Women’s Fund
The Weiss Gallery has sold its centerpiece, a magnificent portrait of Sir Edward Turner by 17th-century English painter John Michael Wright, to a private collector for an undisclosed six-figure sum
Colnaghi has announced the sale of Deposition from the Cross by Portuguese painter Domingos António de Sequeira, which has attracted great international interest and is likely to return to its country of origin, Portugal.
The S. Rau Gallery in New Orleans, at TEFAF for the first time, made some significant sales of works by French painters Claude Monet, Berthe Morisot and Henri Martin, in addition to the main sale of Van Gogh’s Tête de Paysanne à la Coiffe Blanche for 4.5 million euros
Kunstgalerij Albricht sold View on Veere, Zeeland by Jan Toorop for an asking price of 375,000 euros to a young Dutch collector couple
Swiss-based Galerie Karsten Grève, which specializes in contemporary and postwar art, sold works by American artist Kathleen Jacobs, as well as Landschaft mit Baum, circa 1893, by Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler to a major European collector with a public space, for 200,000 euros
David Tunick, Inc. sold several works, including three by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, with two others in approval to private collectors and a museum
The Viennese firm Wienerroither & Kohlbacher sold several works by Austrian artists, including Gustav Klimt’s previously lost Fur Boa for 290,000 euros and Koloman Moser’sFemale Allegory with Laurel Branch for 36,000 euros, both to Swiss collectors
Agnews Works on Paper sold several works by Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, including Tête et épaules de face, Homme nu de face, bras écartés and Tête et épaules de face avec frange, all to private collectors
The Geneva-based Bailly Gallery sold a good number of works, including the most important, Femme au Chapeau, by Dutch-French painter Kees van Dongen, for a seven-figure sum to a private European collector, as well as six other works to private collectors in Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United States
Galerie Thomas Salis sold French-Dutch painter Kees van Dongen’s L
Alon Zakaim sold to a private collector La Liseuse II by Lithuanian sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, whose asking price was 970,000 euros, as well as a work by Renoir
German gallery Utermann sold Femme au tablier by Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso for nearly 2 million euros to an American private collection, as well as a watercolor by German painter and graphic artist Ernst Wilhelm Nay, which sold for 125,000 euros to a private German collector
Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois in Paris sold Pink by Peter Stämpfli to a private collector for between 250,000 and 300,000 euros
Also Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois sold John DeAndrea’s hyperrealist sculpture Adam and Eve to a European museum
Deborah Elvira has made four sales to museums, including the Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu in Poland. Sales to private collectors include a 16th-century wrought-iron and painted processional cross of St. Dominic, which sold for a five-figure sum
Libraire Camille Sourget reported that more than half of the sales were to new customers, including a highly coveted and visually striking bird and natural history book by François Levaillant, which attracted many interested parties and sold for nearly 100,000 euros
São Roque reported that he met new customers at the fair and aroused great interest from museums. He sold his 17th-century Safavid mirror to the Aga Khan Foundation in Toronto for about 200,000 euros
L’Univers du Bronze has aroused great interest in its collection of works by Hubert de Gall. It sold, among others, two examples of the original edition of eight castings of L’Eternal Printemps, a bronze cabinet weighing 600 kg
No visit to TEFAF would be complete without admiring some of the spectacular Delft Ceramics. At the Aronson Delftware booth, a magnificent blue and white pyramidal flower, formerly owned by British fashion photographer Cecil Beaton, sold for about 300,000 euros
The Pendulerie sold 15 clocks, one of which, in the shape of a vase, was sold to a U.S. collector for a six-figure sum. The only other known clock of this type is in the Kremlin Museum
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