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If you think you’ve been busy lately, spare a thought for the team over at Paris’s Grand Palais. Just a fortnight after building a luminous solar system beneath the beaux-arts landmark’s glass roof for Matthieu Blazy’s Chanel debut, on Wednesday, its doors will reopen, its halls transformed into one of the commercial art world’s marquee events: Art Basel Paris.
While this only marks the global art fair’s fourth edition — its second at the Grand Palais (following two prior editions at the Grand Palais Ephémère under the name Paris+ par Art Basel) — Art Basel Paris has become an unmissable art world highlight. Following directly on from Frieze London, Art Basel Paris’s resplendent setting has earned it a reputation as a ritzy affair — compounded, of course, by the city’s reputation as a luxury mecca. The kinds of people who fly around the world to buy art aren’t exactly strangers to the flagships that line nearby Avenue Montaigne, after all.
To this point, though, the fair also highlights the French capital’s status as a unique point of intersection for the creative industries, providing due cause for a glut of parallel exhibition openings and major brand activations, as well as an ambitious public programme.
It’s not all roses, though; as was the case last week in London, Art Basel Paris opens in an art market climate coloured by both stern foreboding and cautious optimism, setting a curious tone for the week ahead.
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s Art Basel Paris, running from 23 to 26 October.
A contradictory picture
The downturn in the global art market has now prevailed for three years. According to the 2025 Art Basel UBS Art Market report, global art sales were down 12 per cent year-on-year in 2024, with the slump especially pronounced at the higher end of the market. Sales in the French market — which accounts for “a stable 7 per cent of global sales by value”, the report reads, making it the fourth largest market worldwide and the largest in the EU — fell by 10 per cent year-on-year. “In a trickier market, data suggests that selling is quickest at the sub-$50,000 level,” says Melanie Gerlis, The Art Newspaper’s art market editor at large and columnist for the Financial Times, noting that this “doesn’t necessarily play to the strengths of Art Basel Paris, which tends to favour more historical — and pricey — art”.
Sobering reading, perhaps, but cold figures don’t paint the full picture. “At the same time, there is a flight to safety,” Gerlis adds, underscoring the well-attested tendency towards more conservative purchases during tougher times. “I’m also interested to see how the market in France responds to art by more contemporary, adventurous artists. I am told that the previously more conservative tastes are moving into these areas. I’ll be interested to see how these dynamics balance out.”
Moreover, there’s hope that the buoyant spirits reported in London — which translated to widespread sell-out booths across both of Frieze’s fairs, and Christie’s most successful Frieze Week Evening Sale in seven years — will carry across the channel. “The mood was good at Frieze — the wider news cycle was more positive, while most of the art trade has adjusted its mindset to a recalibrated market,” Gerlis continues. “There was hope and a buzz in the air, things that have not been felt in London since Brexit. I expect the good vibes to continue into Art Basel Paris.”
The pull of Paris
Those good vibes are, arguably, only enhanced by Art Basel Paris’s grand setting. Perusing the fair’s 206 gallery presentations beneath the nave of the Grand Palais makes for a far more uplifting experience than temporary tents and stale-aired convention centres.
“Paris itself helps,” Gerlis adds, underscoring the city — and the relatively novel premise of a world-beating art fair within it — as a key draw for a global audience of collectors. “It is such a lovely place to visit, so I suspect many people use the fair as a chance to see one of the world’s best cities.”
“Paris has the overall sense of touristy charm to entice collectors from North America and Asia especially — and the ease of transportation for collectors, as well as galleries, from markets hubs like Flanders, the Rhineland and London,” says Jeppe Ugelvig, an independent curator and editor, who will host two events parallel to the fair: a show at Morán Morán’s Paris space and the launch of the latest issue of indie darling Viscose Journal in collaboration with Cheruby, a Shanghai-based foundation supporting and cross-pollinating independent fashion and art practices. “Paris is a strategic node in the network, and doubles as a walkable dreamworld — in other words, it’s great for shopping.”
The Parisian arts ecosystem is “incredibly dynamic, ambitious and globally attuned”, says Vincenzo de Bellis, Art Basel’s chief artistic officer and global director of fairs. “We sometimes restrict the city to its gilded splendour, but it is an incredibly diverse and young environment, where creatives of all kinds still thrive.”
In Galeries, the fair’s main sector, “we can expect some major historical works”, de Bellis continues. “Pace Gallery just confirmed they would be showing an exceptional Modigliani from 1918, and [Canadian gallery] Landau Fine Art plans to exhibit one of Italian futurist Gino Severini’s most striking paintings, Danzatrice. Both masters have strong ties to Paris — as do some of today’s most interesting contemporary artists including Simone Fattal, Hélène Delprat and Lee Ufan, who’ll also be on view.”
Further highlights on the main floor include London-based Carlos Ishikawa’s solo presentation of Chinese-born, Netherlands-based artist Evelyn Taochen Wang’s sparingly serene paintings; Brussels-based Xavier Hufkens’s cross-generational showing of works by Louise Bourgeois, Tracey Emin, Charline von Heyl, Mark Manders and Cecilia Vicuña; and a joint booth by New York’s Chapter NY and London’s Soft Opening, showcasing mixed-media works by Olivia Erlanger, Stuart Middleton and Gina Fischli.
The first floor balcony hosts Emergences, a sector dedicated to work by emerging artists, where fair attendees will be flocking to hotly tipped solo presentations by Chinese artist Xiyadie, whose homoerotic, rainbow-hued hand-cut paper tableaux will be on show at Hong Kong-based Blindspot Gallery; Royal Academy of Arts graduate Jala Wahid, who has staged a sculpture-based exploration of military invasion and forced migration through the prism of the Kurdish diaspora at Vienna-based Sophie Tappeiner; and Tanoa Sasraku, who’s presenting a five-metre-high tapestry sculpture with London-based Vardaxoglou Gallery.
Putting a fashion foot forward
Within the fair, you’ll see activations by major fashion and luxury sponsors that are now par for the course for any art fair.
Louis Vuitton will unveil an exclusive artist collaboration at its booth during Wednesday’s VIP opening; co-branded Zegna tote bags will be distributed among VIP attendees; Salomon will dress fair hosts and stage an immersive installation during the public days of the fair; and Audemars Piguet is on board as an associate partner, alongside Louis Vuitton, UBS, NetJets and the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Now a global mainstay of the fair, the Art Basel Shop also returns, this time with a reflective façade designed by Harry Nuriev, stocking artist-edition raincoats and limited-edition Labubus alongside Art Basel’s core merch collection.
Art Basel is stepping into shopping with a new, ephemeral concept store, with the launch iteration spearheaded by Colette’s Sarah Andelman.
Beyond these familiar commercial templates, though, fashion — and fashion culture — is directly factored into the fair’s programming. ‘Oh La La!’, Art Basel Paris’s initiative that sees select galleries present new works on the Friday and Saturday, returns under the artistic direction of Loïc Prigent, the esteemed fashion documentary maker and journalist. Under the theme ‘À La Mode’, participating galleries will “present works exploring fashion, style and the politics of dress”, de Bellis says, “a witty and pointed reflection on Parisian chic and the avant-garde’s enduring engagement with fashion.”
Across the road at the Petit Palais, EE72 founder and former British Vogue editorial director Edward Enninful will curate a day of the fair’s official Conversations programme, taking place on Friday. Conceived as a prelude to his upcoming exhibition at Tate Britain in 2026 — a survey of creativity over the course of the 1990s — the running order comprises one-on-one conversations between the acclaimed fashion editor and four era-defining artists: Yinka Shonibare, Juergen Teller, Sonia Boyce and Mark Leckey.
“From the outset, Art Basel Paris was conceived as a fair that embraces cross-disciplinary dialogue and fosters meaningful partnerships,” de Bellis explains. “In a city where art, fashion, design and luxury are so deeply intertwined, it feels natural to reflect that convergence.”
One of the most significant partnerships between Art Basel Paris and a major luxury player takes place outside of the main fair. For the second year running, Miu Miu comes on board as public programme official partner, with the fashion house once again taking up residence at the Palais d’Iena, its Paris Fashion Week home. This year, the space has been given over to Turner Prize-winning British artist Helen Marten, who has transformed the rationalist masterpiece into a performance project that expresses the expansive remit of her practice. Titled 30 Blizzards, the built environment will be anchored by sculpture and video installations, and activated by operatic soundscapes and characterful performances by Miu Miu-clad actors.
A string of satellite events
As with any art fair of its scale, Art Basel Paris prompts a dizzying array of parallel activations. After all, the outsized number of major luxury players with either headquarters in — or profound relationships with — the French capital makes this week a no-brainer for staging events.
On Monday night, Chanel Culture Fund threw an intimate dinner to honour its partnership with Alphabet Magazine on a special edition celebrating La Pausa, Gabrielle Chanel’s recently restored French Riviera home, through the prism of 26 contemporary creatives. The same night, Dior hosted a cocktail at its Avenue Montaigne emporium to toast the 10th anniversary of Lady Dior Art, featuring artist editions of the house’s iconic handbag by Patrick Eugène, Lakwena Maciver, Ju Ting and more.
At its Champs Élysées flagship, Guerlain will celebrate the centenary of Shalimar, one of its most recognised fragrances, with a three-story exhibition on the timeless theme of love, featuring works by a blockbuster roster that includes Niki de Saint Phalle, David Hockney, Ren Hang and Marina Abramovic and Ulay. Simon Porte Jacquemus flexes his curatorial muscle with ‘Mythes’, an exhibition at Collège des Bernardins that brings sculptures of antiquity into conversation with bronze casts by Aristide Maillol, while in Bastille, mid-century French design specialist Galerie Patrick Seguin presents an exhibition curated by Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello, who has selected a number of furniture pieces by Charlotte Perriand, one of the era’s most influential designers, to be produced in a very limited edition.
For its forthcoming edition, Art Basel Paris has paired up with Guerlain on a limited-edition run of one its emblematic scents.
At Dover Street Market Paris, Joopiter — Pharrell Williams’s auction house — will host an “unprecedented tattoo auction”, a release reads, featuring inked designs by creatives and artists including Lauren Halsey, Sarah Andelman and Thom Browne. Close by, in Haut-Marais, Issey Miyake’s A-Poc Able line will present an exhibition conceived in collaboration with Japanese artist Eugene Kangawa and architect Tsuyoshi Tane. Exploring the compositional logic of the latter’s Light and Shadow Inside Me series, the resulting capsule collection and immersive installation will debut in Paris before travelling to Tokyo and Osaka later in the year.
“At Issey Miyake, art is not merely an image-based concept; we see it as the very spirit at the root of creation. While fashion and art belong to different realms, both share a fundamental inquiry: how we perceive materials and time, the body and space,” says Yoshiyuki Miyamae, the designer behind the A-Poc Able line. The brand’s choice to present during the week — rather than during Paris Fashion Week, where Issey Miyake is a schedule mainstay — is telling of the cachet that Art Basel Paris has swiftly earned. “Presenting this work in Paris at this moment feels inevitable. Art Basel Paris is a place where ideas and expressions from around the world converge, intersecting art’s past, present and future. To present for the first time as A-Poc Able Issey Miyake on such a stage carries profound meaning.”
Big brands aren’t the only ones keen to prove their proximity to art. Near the Palais Royal, cult shoe brand Le Monde Béryl has opened its very first retail pop-up, spanning both Paris Fashion Week and Art Basel Paris. As well as the brand’s popular leather ballet slippers and riding boots, the space hosts a cultural programme that includes listening evenings and an exhibition by artist Valentine Fillol Cordier.
Building on solid foundations
Key indicators of how intertwined the worlds of luxury and art are in Paris are the city’s museum-scale private foundations, which regularly stage some of the city’s blockbuster shows — as is the case this week. Two of the best-reviewed exhibitions in town — ‘Minimalism’ at the Bourse de Commerce, and the Gerhard Richter retrospective at Fondation Louis Vuitton — recently opened at foundations owned and run by the Pinault and Arnault families, respectively.
The prize for the most-anticipated opening of the week, though, goes to the new home of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, which moves from its former home deep in the Left Bank to a Hausmannian city block on place de Palais Royal, a stone’s throw from Le Louvre. Ambitiously redesigned by leading French architect Jean Nouvel, the former hotel and department store features 6,500 square metres of exhibition space — transformable by way of a series of moving floors — and represents the most significant institutional opening in Paris since the 2021 launch of Pinault’s Bourse de Commerce. Its opening exhibition, ‘Exposition Générale’, traces a 40-year-long history of contemporary art through the prism of Fondation Cartier’s own collection, and was toasted with a fittingly festive cocktail on Tuesday evening.
Further noteworthy highlights during the week include American photographer Tyler Mitchell’s first French solo show at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie; an exhibition by Jonathan Anderson collaborator Dean Sameshima at Good or Trash; and the ongoing Rick Owens retrospective at Palais Galliera. And that’s without getting started on all the fantastic exhibitions that have no fashion ties at all.
“In the overcrowded calendar of the transnational art set, Paris has in a short time taken a prime position,” says Ugelvig. While the reasons for Paris’s ascent have largely been pinned on factors external to it (the fallout from Brexit as a case in point), the curator sees the phenomenon as “something closer to a homecoming. It bears remembering that Paris was the reigning capital of the international art market for centuries, and may soon again be. In art as well as fashion, all roads lead to Paris.”
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