In a regular week, the usually homely Maastricht Exhibition & Conference Centre, in the Dutch city of Maastricht, hosts run-of-the-mill functions such as a pub quiz and a flea market. Then, every March, for a few days it gets dressed up with banks of flowers to welcome an altogether different crowd.
That’s when museum directors, art advisors, and billionaires from around the world descend on this provincial backwater straddling the Meuse River, many of them swooping in via private plane, to attend TEFAF, arguably the world’s most discerning art fair.
At last year's TEFAF....first time exhibitor, the New Orleans gallery M.S. Rau, sold an early Van Gogh, the name of which translates to "Head of a peasant women in a white cap," to a museum for 4.5 million euros. Workers setting up before opening hours would come over and stare at it.
