NEW YORK, NY.- At the TEFAF Board of Trustees meeting in New York in May 2018, Paul Smeets was appointed to succeed Konrad Bernheimer as Chair of Paintings for TEFAF Maastricht from June 1, 2018. Paul will also become an Executive Committee member from the same date. Paul was appointed to TEFAF Board of Trustees in 2017.

Konrad Bernheimer, who has been keen to hand over the reins to a younger generation for some time, will become Chair Emeritus Paintings from June 1, 2018, working alongside Paul for a transition period of one year. Konrad remains on the Executive Committee and Board of Trustees.

“We are delighted that Paul has agreed to become Chair of Paintings and to join the Executive Committee and we would also like to record our thanks to Konrad for his commitment and long service as Chair of Paintings”, said Nanne Dekking, Chair of TEFAF Board of Trustees.

TEFAF Maastricht has three section Chairs, Paul Smeets, Chair of Paintings; Christophe de Quénetain, Chair of Antiques, and Christophe Van de Weghe, Chair of Modern, each of whom is responsible for the selection process within their areas.

Paul Smeets is the chairman of the Rob Smeets Old Master Paintings Gallery, based in Geneva. He graduated with highest honors in Modern History at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, and was granted a scholarship to further the studies of his dissertation on “The History of Art in Antiquity” by J.J. Winckelmann. The following year, he completed his education and training by working in the OMP department at Sotheby's in London. Established in 1989, the gallery deals mainly in Dutch, Flemish, and Italian Old Master paintings, specializing in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries.