Carol Vogel finds a novel angle on TEFAF, distressed sales:

The economic crisis was felt here in less obvious ways too. Several dealers admitted that they were selling artworks for clients who were seriously in need of quick cash. “One person who got Madoff-ed gave us an important old-master painting to sell,” Mr. Feigen said, although he declined to identify the seller or the painting.

Karsten Greve, a dealer with spaces in Switzerland, Germany and France, was showing an exceptional suite of seven 1960s watercolors by Lucio Fontana priced at nearly $620,000 for the set. “I had sold them to an American collector who had lost money, so I bought them back,” Mr. Greve said. “I had always thought they would end up at the Museum of Modern Art.”

Optimism and Jitters at Art Fair in Europe (New York Times)