I have received hundreds of thousands of press releases in my years of writing about art and the art industry, but one has always stood out to me as exemplary.

Sent in 2011 by the European Fine Art Foundation, this release provided incredible (and incredibly granular) details about the effort that went into staging its trademark event earlier that year, the famously luxurious TEFAF fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The number of bottles of champagne served at the preview? 1,800. Total canapés at the preview: 150,000! Private jets landing at the Maastricht-Aachen airport? A cool 154.

It was a fascinating look at what it takes to produce a high-end fair—and something of a show of force.

In the aftermath of the most recent TEFAF, which closed earlier this month, I asked its organizers to furnish some of the same numbers they trumpeted 13 years ago, and they were kind enough to oblige. To their contributions, I added a bit of my own reporting. One intriguing takeaway: The number of canapés at the preview has dropped since 2011 (though I did not hear anyone complain).

Forthwith, a rundown of TEFAF Maastricht, by the numbers, from a total count of museum directors in attendance to the (surprisingly affordable) price of a Salvador Dalí–themed cocktail.

Servers prepare some of the 80,000 canapés on offer during TEFAF’s preview.

THE FAIR ITSELF

Size: 333,681 square feet

Workers who built it: 250 carpenters, painters, fabric workers, floor installers, and electricians

Hours it took: 50,000 hours

Exhibitors: 270

Countries represented: 22

THE AMENITIES

Stems of flowers: 75,000

Canapés: 80,000

Restaurants and bars within the fair: 11

My favorite: The Cocktail and Croqueteria Bar

Price of the “Persistence of Time – Salvador Dalí” cocktail: €15 (about $16.20)

What is in a “Persistence of Time” cocktail: Campari, gin, and sweet vermouth. (It’s an aged Negroni.)

Eleven restaurants are available to meet the needs of exhibitors and visitors. The luscious pies are a highlight.

VISITORS

Total number: 50,000

Population of Maastricht: About 123,000

Museum directors visiting: 300

Current and former directors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: 2 (Max Hollein and Thomas P. Campbell, who now leads the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco)

Curators: 650

Patron groups: 40

A member of the vetting committee at work at TEFAF Maastricht 2019. Photo by Loraine Bodewes courtesy of TEFAF Maastricht.

THE VETTING PROCESS

Vetters: 213

Countries represented by the vetters: Approximately 17

Institutes represented by vetters: Approximately 126

Vetting Committees: 32

Hours Vetting: 4,260

LUCID MOTORS (TEFAF’s “OFFICIAL AUTOMOTIVE PARTNER”)

Shuttles: 705

Drivers: 20

Distance driven: Over 9,300 miles (roughly the distance from New York to Singapore)