Imane Rachidi |
Maastricht (Netherlands) (EFE) The TEFAF fair comes strong this year, leaving behind the pandemic and the scare after the robbery of the last edition.
Before being able to admire the gigantic floral sculpture with which the TEFAF European Fine Arts Fair surprises its clients every year in the Dutch city of Maastricht, the public must line up to pass strict security controls, to which has been added a metal detector, as well as police dogs and a search of the bag, in search of extreme caution after the robbery suffered last year at the London jewelry store Symbolic & Chase.
In that robbery, last summer, five thieves took numerous jewels; the most expensive was a necklace with the largest yellow diamond in the world, which has an estimated value of 27 million euros.
But what happened has not soured the appeal of the fair, which remains just as popular with art dealers and gallery owners eager to grab a piece, after previous editions were overshadowed by the pandemic.
“This is the edition in which the fair has to recover its pre-pandemic pulse a bit and I think it will be like that. So far we have seen that there is a lot of expectation and people who have told us that they are coming. And this is very positive, especially compared to last July’s edition, which was a bit to save the fair”, says gallery owner Artur Ramón.
In 2020 TEFAF had to bring forward the closure due to the pandemic and, in 2021, the fair was held online.
The floral detail of this 36th edition is a kind of stuffed toy in a range of whites and pinks, in front of which the up to 75,000 visitors who generally come to this fair to see the pieces of art and antiques offered by the 270 gallery owners pose and are photographed. from up to 20 countries.
Expand art and jewelry collections
Investors, art collectors, museums, members of royal family and celebrities looking to expand their art and jewelry collections come.
TEFAF hosts 7,000 years of art history and antiquities, from the oldest works to the most contemporary pieces, some located in archaeological excavations and others designed in the most modern studios of the 21st century, and the most interesting thing is that art fans can to see in Maastricht pieces of private property that are not normally exhibited to the public.
In addition, there is no room for deception: each piece that is exhibited and sold at TEFAF has gone through strict verification controls, and its authenticity and provenance is guaranteed and verified in advance, so there are no false copies, no stolen art. The objects on offer are museum-quality, making this fair an amusement park for directors of art galleries around the world.
It is generally a fair for millionaires, although there are also objects accessible to other budgets, such as a capiñones for 500 euros that is sold in the antique dealer Deborah Elvira, who together with Caylus, Artur Ramón, Colnaghi and Mayoral put the Spanish touch on the fair.
The star piece at the Artur Ramón stand is “Girls on the Beach”, a Sorolla painted in Valencia in 1908, and for which the gallery owner is asking for 2.7 million euros, although he is also offering a 19th-century sculpture by Francesco Antonio Franzoni made with veined marble that simulates a tiger, following the models of the Vatican animal facility.
Colnaghi presents the piece “San Jerónimo penitente”, by Jusepe de Ribera, for 2 million euros, and the painting “Virgen de la faja”, by Murillo, for 12 million euros, while the Mayoral gallery exhibits a selection of pieces of the 20th and 21st, among which “Composició amb roba i corda” (1975) by Tàpies stands out, which embodies the statement of Michel Tapié.
The Caylus gallery is putting up for sale an Ecce Homo by Sebastiano del Piombo, from the middle of the third decade of the 16th century; a Christ Carrying the Cross, made by Anton Raphael Mengs in 1773-1774, and a Murillo portrait of Archbishop Spinola, among other pieces.
TEFAF Maastricht officially opens its doors today until Sunday March 19 at the MECC convention center in that city.