Museums worldwide acquire art and antiques at TEFAF Maastricht
Works spanning 7,000 years of art, antiques and design found homes in public collections during the March fair in the Netherlands.
The European Fine Art Foundation announced on 20 October that museums and public institutions worldwide acquired significant works of art, antiques and design at TEFAF Maastricht, held in March 2026. The fair attracted more than 600 museum directors and curators alongside 130 patron groups, according to the foundation’s announcement.
Participating institutions included leading American museums such as the Met and the Getty, Paris institutions, the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, London galleries, Chicago’s Art Institute, and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, among many others.
Antiquities and classical works
Several acquisitions centred on pieces from antiquity and the Renaissance. Yale University Art Gallery acquired Nero’s Vase, a first-century AD work that once belonged to Emperor Nero’s Domus Transitoria residence, sold through Stuart Lochhead Sculpture. The Fondazione Luigi Rovati in Milan acquired the Memnon Amphora via Plektron Fine Arts AG, while the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts secured both the Stele of Medeia and a sculptural pairing representing Oceanus and Tethys, depicting deities from classical mythology.
The Met added a 14th-century marble kneeling figure to its collection. The Rijksmuseum obtained a wax portrait by Carl Matthäus depicting Hieronymus Baumgartner the Younger, a municipal official in Nuremberg, sold through Kunstkammer Georg Laue.
Paintings from the Renaissance through modernism
Lavinia Fontana’s “Christ Driving Out the Traders From the Temple” entered the Art Institute of Chicago’s permanent collection as the museum’s first painting by the female Renaissance artist, according to the fair’s announcement. The same museum acquired “Hercules Kills” by Lamar West and “Diafanorama with the feast of Purim at the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam” by Maerten de Vos.
The Getty Museum secured “Portrait of Rosa Luder” by Cuno Amiet from Bottegantica. Robert Delaunay’s “Arc-en-ciel No. 5” went to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, while the Minneapolis Institute of Art acquired “The Entombment” by Johann Rottenhammer and “Madonna and Child with Saint Francis” by Francesco Raibolini, called Il Francia. Picasso’s “Pigeon, 1943” entered the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam acquired “L’homme est en mer” by Virginie Demont-Breton, which the foundation notes is the museum’s third painting by a female artist. A Peter Paul Rubens work titled “Three Men in Classical Robes” with a draft letter on the verso attributed to Eleonora de’ Medici was sold by Day & Faber to the King Baudouin Foundation, which subsequently lent it to the Rubenshuis in Antwerp. Marie Bracquemond’s “Still Life with Oranges” joined the Saint Louis Art Museum, while Juliette Roche’s “Maison et jardin” went to the Chrysler Museum.
Decorative arts and design
Museums in Europe and North America strengthened their design collections with acquisitions spanning textiles, ceramics, metalwork and modern furniture. A wall lamp by Gerrit Rietveld sold to the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, while a chair by Tom Dixon and a table by François Linke both entered the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in France. Sonia Delaunay-Terk’s “Robe simultanée” was acquired by the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston obtained a large 18th-century tapestry and a chinoiserie Portuguese faience plate from São Roque in Lisbon. The National Trust acquired “Queen Esther Sends the Royal Decree,” a Southern Netherlandish tapestry from the early 16th century, for Oxburgh Estate in the UK. A pair of Louis XVI gilt bronze-mounted blue-glazed faïence bowls entered the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
The Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore acquired the tea caddy “Syntax,” while a decorative wall panel created by Thomas Couture and Jules Desfossé went to the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
Women artists represented
Works by Bracquemond, Demont-Breton, Bruyère, Delaunay-Terk and Pade all entered collections during the fair. Elise Bruyère’s “Portrait of a Young Man” was acquired by Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, and Muzeum Susch added Eva Helene Pade’s “Opstand (Surge)” to its collection. The Limburgs Museum acquired a portrait of writer Frans Erens by G.H. Breitner, while the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama secured works by Lotte Laserstein and Virginie Demont-Breton.
This article was compiled by the CityLifeBytes editorial desk from the official announcements and reporting listed under Sources.
