Dutch head of prominent TEFAF art fair suddenly resigns after controversial tweets surface

The Dutch managing director of the important international art and antiques fair, TEFAF, has suddenly resigned. Bart Drenth confirmed his resignation in a conversation with ANP, but he did not want to state his reasons for resigning. Media outlets outside of the Netherlands recently linked him to prior messages he published on Twitter, which are no longer public, and which generated criticism against him.

The tweets are no longer public, and included statements against "woke" culture, statements against the current left-wing, and questionable comments about Muslims. Drenth said he has no need to comment on this, and only referred to a statement from TEFAF "which is not being actively disseminated."

Drenth would only say that he "greatly enjoyed" working for TEFAF.

The arts and culture publication, ARTnews, was one of the first to share the news that Drenth had unexpectedly stepped down as global managing director for The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), a job which he held since last year. That news came shortly after Artnet News columnist Annie Armstrong drew attention to what she considered to be his provocative views.

“Just as with the Iranian revolution in 1978, left-wing do-gooders stand hand in hand with jihadists. Not knowing that after the success of the revolution they will die first,” he reportedly wrote in a tweet last August when he was the interim director at TEFAF.

“Woke is the new Westboro: Hyper-Calvinistic hagglers,” another stated. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines "woke" as a slang term relating to an awareness and attentiveness towards important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). "Westboro" is a likely reference to the Westboro Baptist Church, a church in Kansas often considered to be a hate group for its rhetoric against homosexuals, Muslims, Jews, transgender people, atheists, and many others.

“Speculating about the transition of the population is only a problem when you are not a Muslim,” another tweet from Drenth stated, according to Artnet News.

TEFAF provided a copy of its statement on the matter only by special request. In it, the organization wrote that Drenth will focus on his consultancy firm, Bart Drenth Advies. The TEFAF Board will announce news about the change in leadership of the fair in the coming weeks.

"The board is grateful to Bart for his performance as general manager of TEFAF," said TEFAF chair Hidde van Seggelen, in the statement. “Bart joined TEFAF at a time of turmoil and transition caused by the pandemic, when the art market and fairs were just getting back on track.” Despite these challenges, his leadership brought stability and progress to TEFAF, Van Seggelen continued. "This year, TEFAF held two successful editions in Maastricht and New York, indicating that the foundation and grants are well positioned for the future."