ART BASEL PARIS 2025
Paris has always been a city where beauty and rebellion coexist. This year’s Art Basel Paris felt like a continuation of that dialogue—one between the old masters who shaped art history and the contemporary voices redefining it for a new generation. Held inside the restored Grand Palais, the 2025 edition celebrated the second year of its return to this iconic venue, and the energy was unmistakably Parisian: elegant, intellectual, yet pulsing with irreverent creative fire.
A Global Convergence of Visionaries
The fair brought together 206 leading international galleries representing 41 countries, with a strong presence of French spaces reinforcing the show’s local roots. More than 73,000 visitors passed through during the VIP and public days, from established collectors to young artists absorbing the city’s creative pulse.
This year saw enthusiastic engagement across all market levels. Works by Gerhard Richter, Amadeo Modigliani, Julie Mehretu, and Leiko Ikemura found major placements, while rediscovered figures such as Marie Bracquemond and Lee ShinJa drew renewed interest from institutions seeking to expand and diversify art-historical narratives.
Rooted in Paris, Looking Forward
The curatorial current moved fluidly across eras, pairing historical works from Rubens and Degas with modern and contemporary innovators like Meret Oppenheim, Latifa Echakhch, Ai Weiwei, Otobong Nkanga, and rising experimental voices such as Precious Okoyomon and Monia Ben Hamouda.
Rather than simply presenting variety, the fair illustrated how artistic concerns — identity, memory, mythology, resistance — persist across generations and mediums.
Cultural Gravity
More than 240 international museums and foundations were represented, including many of the world’s most influential cultural institutions. Their presence reinforced the fair’s role not just as a marketplace, but as a space for shaping and expanding the global art narrative.
Institutional engagement on this scale signals something important: Paris is continuing to assert itself as a defining force in contemporary art discourse.
The Public Program: Art in Motion Through the City
The fair extended beyond the Grand Palais into nine sites throughout the city. Fashion, cinema, design, and contemporary art once again intersected fluidly, with Miu Miu returning as partner to the Public Program.
One of the standout gestures was “Oh La La!” — a spontaneous re-hanging initiative directed by journalist Loïc Prigent, inviting visitors to reconsider the works through new sequences, rhythms, and juxtapositions. It underscored something essential: meaning in art is always in motion.
The Next Chapter
This edition also marked the announcement of Karim Crippa as the incoming Director of Art Basel Paris, signaling a considered continuation of the fair’s dialogue with both the Parisian cultural infrastructure and the international art world.
The fair will return in October 2026, continuing to grow its position as one of Europe’s most dynamic platforms for modern and contemporary art.
Why Art Basel Paris Matters
Art Basel Paris stands apart not because of spectacle, but because of conversation.
It is where history meets experimentation.
Where galleries meet institutions.
Where Paris speaks to the world, and the world answers.
It is a fair rooted in legacy — but alive in the present moment.
And that is what gives it staying power.