From antiquity to living masters, the little sibling of TEFAF-Maastricht, Europe's defining celebration of fine art, antiquities, and jewelry, is the only New York fair to offer a comprehensive art historical journey that draws A-list celebrities, collectors, institutions, and discerning aesthetes. The Maastricht presentations have embraced more Modern and Contemporary art in recent years, and newer works take center stage in New York.
The 10th U.S. edition of The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) opened to ticket holders today and is on view through May 14 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. At $55 ($25 for students) for one-day entry, TEFAF offers the best value, showcasing museum-quality art and radiating enchantment that transports us away from daily drudgery and geopolitical horror. The well-heeled crowd last night underscores its position as the best art fair in the U.S. It’s my Met Gala.
...
We accompany Salvador Dalí on his self-referential voyage in Alegoría Al Mar, (Allegory of the Sea) painted 13 years before his death at age 84 in 1989, presented by Di Donna of New York. We embark on the upper canvas, where our eyes feast on two yellow lobsters, reminding us of Aphrodisiac Telephone (1938), conjuring Dalí’s repeated analogy between sex and food. The bare branches of a wishbone-like tree of a life with a heart shape in its roots pierces the lobsters, as its trunk overlaps a rectangular sea with quartz crystal-like waves while a naked man dives to grasp the hands of a mermaid.
...