Tefaf 2008

Major purchases by private collectors and museum curators have made the 2008 edition of TEFAF one of the most successful in the 21- year history of the prestigious art and antiques Fair. So far museum curators and trustees from 18 countries have visited TEFAF. Among the Russian museums was the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Others included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Shanghai Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Tate Britain in London, the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Major purchases by private collectors and museum curators have made the 2008 edition of TEFAF one of the most successful in the 21- year history of the prestigious art and antiques Fair. So far museum curators and trustees from 18 countries have visited TEFAF. Among the Russian museums was the Hermitage in St Petersburg. Others included the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Shanghai Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Tate Britain in London, the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

Modern and contemporary art, classical antiquities, Asian art, and books and manuscripts were among the sections that performed particularly strongly while, as always, TEFAF’s unrivalled reputation for exhibiting high quality Old Master paintings resulted in many important sales.

Ben Janssens, Chairman of TEFAF’s Executive Committee, said: “There is no evidence that the jittery financial markets have discouraged art buyers and in fact the reverse seems to be true. Visitors said to me that they see no point in investing in stocks at the moment and prefer to put their money into art and antiques. What has also been encouraging is the increase in visitors from Asia including, for the first time, two groups totalling 20 people from mainland China.” 

James Roundell, who is in charge of the Fair’s Modern and Contemporary Art section, said: “Dealers are very happy with this year’s Fair. They feel that a serious crowd comes to Maastricht, very different from other fairs, and so sales were as good, and in many cases better, than last year.”