One may think of the first editions of Paris+ par Art Basel at the Grand Palais Éphémère as the prologue to the unfolding story of the art fair. The event’s long-planned move to the Belle Epoque palace, the Grand Palais, this fall, then might be understood as its official beginning, the real first chapter after a well-executed preamble.
Dealers and visitors have been patiently awaiting the switchover to the historic site, which is among Paris’s most recognizable monuments. The Grand Palais is reopening after a $500 million renovation timed to the Olympics this summer and major restorations have been painstakingly undertaken. Its main ground floor nave will now be connected to its ornate balconies that were formerly inaccessible, and which the fair plans to use for its tightly curated emerging galleries sector; a new sector called Premise and the collector’s lounge and hospitality services will also be hosted upstairs.
The fair, now in its third year, will be working under a new name as well. Paris+ par Art Basel is no longer—the fair will officially rebrand under the simpler moniker of Art Basel Paris. Its old name (which had stumped a few anglophones along the way) aligns the French outpost with fair chapters Art Basel Hong Kong and Art Basel Miami Beach. Not only will the fair be tweaking its name, but its refurbished home will allow it to expand its size substantially, by 26 percent.
3D rendering of the Escalier d’honneur © Chatillon Architectes for GrandPalaisRmn, 2022.
After the first two successful editions, the Paris fair’s director Clément Delépine is sounding confident and excited about all the changes unfolding. The title rebrand, he said, was a conversation that involved key stakeholders including city officials.
“Art Basel as a global brand could be even more of service to the city of Paris if we transition to Art Basel Paris,” said the French native in a video call. “It is a way to reinforce our commitment to the city and the local cultural ecosystem, which is very dynamic, and leverage the impact of the Art Basel brand to further bolster the fair. It is a label of excellency for the galleries invited to partake.”
The fair is growing in size, too, thanks to its larger (and breezy and exquisite) ornate steel real estate. It will consist of 194 galleries, up from 154 galleries in 2023. It will still remain the more boutique-size fair as compared with the rest of Art Basel’s fair portfolio—its marquee fair in Basel, Switzerland, hosts 287 galleries in early June. In March, 277 exhibitors attended Hong Kong and 242 were accepted to Miami Beach last December.
The Grand Palais, October 2023. Photography by Aliki Christoforou for Art Basel. Courtesy of Art Basel.
Delépine noted that the expansion process for Art Basel Paris, which includes a new section and 51 first-time participants, was carefully considered by its selection committee.
“The idea was also to consider which positions reinforced and distinguished the fair, and what is the story we want to tell that distinguishes us from the Basel, Miami, and Hong Kong fair,” he said.
Its main sector, Galeries, will be presented in the nave on the ground floor. First-time galleries (see the full list below) include Di Donna, from New York, with a presentation showcasing key works of early and mid- 20th century modernism, from artists including French surrealist painter Yves Tanguy. Goodman Gallery is presenting for the first time at the fair, bringing works by William Kentridge and Kapwani Kiwanga, both of whom had presentations on view during the Venice Biennale.
Jitters continue to rattle the art market in 2024, with reports of subdued primary and secondary sales. After two years of growth, sales regionally have also slowed across the globe, and France is no exception. At the same time, the country has seen some wins: a reduced 5.5 percent tax was locked in last fall, and many galleries are continuing to open outposts there. It is the second largest art market in Europe, after the U.K., bringing in $4.6 billion in 2023, according to the Art Basel & UBS Art Market Report 2024 By Arts Economics.
Jill Magid, Tender Presence (2022). Performance and installation presented by Creative Time at The Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburg. Courtesy the artist, Creative Time, and Labor, Mexico City. Photography: Daniel Salemi.
There is a new sector on offer. A little like the Swiss event’s Feature sector, Premise presents singular, curated booths and, in a first for Art Basel, this sector may include work made before 1900. Expect some big price tags here: Galerie Dina Vierny, Paris, for example, is bringing works by Henri Rousseau and Picasso; Sies + Höke, from Düsseldorf, is presenting artworks by German titans Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter. The Pill, Istanbul, is presenting a solo presentation by Nil Yalter, who won a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale earlier this year.
The fair director noted that the move to launch Premise grew out of a desire to find a place to fit in projects pitched that did not fit in the existing sectors. “In Paris, we can be a bit irreverent, it’s in our DNA,” he said. “We wanted to give ourselves more freedom. It is all about context, if an artwork is relevant within a given context within a very interesting proposal, that is what we should focus on.”
Mohamed Melehi, Untitled (1994). Courtesy of Loft Art Gallery
Conceptually challenging work will not only be relegated here. The Mexican gallery Labor is bringing a solo presentation by American artist Jill Magid that consists of an ambitious installation including freshly cut flowers the artist is acquiring from the main flower market in Paris that will be interspersed among neon floral sculptures. Delépine noted the work is an “investigation into systems of value” that will be a “total sensorium.”
Yalter will not be the only Venice Biennale artist presented at the Paris fair. Several key works by Mohammed Melehi, a Moroccan painter who co-founded the esteemed Casablanca school and who was presented in the nucleo historico dedicated to Abstraction. Several of Melehi’s works will be featured in a standalone presentation by Casablanca- and Marrakesh-based Loft Art Gallery at Art Basel Paris.
“The timing is fitting for a focused presentation of masterworks by this artist,” said Delépine who noted that Melehi’s works are in the MoMA and Pompidou collections.
The expansion focuses on diverse regions, artistic focuses, as well as eras, he added: “We have an opportunity to produce discourse on the market to assist in rewriting the canon. We wanted to shed light on movements and geographies that were overlooked in the first two editions.”
Jan Eustachy Wolski, booth projection using existing paintings as reference, Piktogram, Warsaw
In any case, the fair will maintain its strong French profile, even if that is something of a fungible term as more and more galleries open outposts there.
“Galleries do not open offices here, they open on a grand scale,” added the director, who added that some key and longtime members in the Paris scene, like Thaddaeus Ropac and Robbie Fitzpatrick, are not French. “They have something to say and they participate in the Parisian and French conversation. I want this to be as inclusive as possible.”
In the Emergence sector, Piktogram, from Warsaw, is showing paintings by Jan Eustachy Wolski, which Delépine said the selection committee responded strongly to—the proposal folded in the sector’s balcony; Wolski’s work is a painted scene from one.
“Sometimes freedom lies in the constraints and how you respond to those constraints,” said Delépine. “The Paris fair is very much about this—an amazingly beautiful venue that includes a number of constraints due to being a historical monument. How do you engage with that? This is a creative exercise, and I am proud of that.”
See the full list of participating galleries for Art Basel Paris below.
Galeries Sector
303 Gallery, New York
A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo
Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York
Acquavella Galleries, New York, Palm Beach
Air de Paris, Romainville
Galerie Allen, Paris
Andréhn-Schiptjenko, Stockholm, Paris
Antenna Space, Shanghai
Applicat-Prazan, Paris
Art : Concept, Paris
Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli
Athr Gallery, Ad Diriyah, AlUla, Jeddah
Balice Hertling, Paris
Galerie Anne Barrault, Paris
christian berst art brut, Paris
Blum, Los Angeles, Tokyo, New York
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles, New York
Bortolami, New York
Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam
Galerie Buchholz, Cologne, Berlin, New York
Emanuela Campoli, Paris
Candice Madey, New York
Capitain Petzel, Berlin
Cardi Gallery, Milan, London
Carlos/Ishikawa, London
Ceysson & Bénétière, Paris, Saint-Etienne, Lyon, Koerich, New York
Clearing, New York, Los Angeles, Brussels
Sadie Coles HQ, London
Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles, Ciudad de México
Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, São Paulo, Beijing, La Habana, Boissy-le-Châtel, Paris, Roma, Dubai
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Pilar Corrias, London
Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Albisola
Galerie Chantal Crousel, Paris
Massimodecarlo, Milan, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Bejing
dépendance, Brussels
Di Donna, New York
michèle didier, Paris, Brussels
Dvir Gallery, Tel Aviv, Paris, Brussels
Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
galerie frank elbaz, Paris
Emalin, London
Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, Abidjan, Dakar, Paris
Selma Feriani Gallery, Tunis, London
Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin, Dusseldorf
Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris
Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw
Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo
Peter Freeman, Inc., New York
Gagosian, New York, Beverly Hills, Hong Kong, Paris, Athens, Rome, Basel, Geneva, Saanen, London
Galerie Christophe Gaillard, Paris, Brussels
Galerie 1900-2000, Paris, New York
Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna
François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, New York, West Hollywood
Gladstone Gallery, New York, Brussels, Roma, Seoul
Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, Johannesburg, London
Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, Paris, Los Angeles
Maxwell Graham, New York
Galerie Bärbel Grässlin, Frankfurt
Greene Naftali, New York
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, Cologne, St. Moritz
Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Gstaad, St Moritz, London, Somerset, Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong, Monaco, Ciutadella de Menorca, Paris
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, Paris, London, Marfa
High Art, Paris, Arles
Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles
Hollybush Gardens, London
Xavier Hufkens, Brussels
Mariane Ibrahim, Chicago, Paris, Ciudad de México
Taka Ishii Gallery, Tokyo, Kyoto, Maebashi, Hong Kong
Alison Jacques, London
Galerie Jousse Entreprise, Paris
Casey Kaplan, New York
Karma, New York, Los Angeles
Karma International, Zürich
kaufmann repetto, Milan, New York
Anton Kern Gallery, New York
Kiang Malingue, Hong Kong
David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, New York
Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Busan
kurimanzutto, Mexico City, New York
Labor, Ciudad de México
LambdaLambdaLambda, Prishtina
Landau Fine Art, Montreal
Layr, Vienna
LC Queisser, Tbilisi
Galerie Le Minotaure, Paris
In Situ – fabienne leclerc, Romainville
Lehmann Maupin, New York, Seoul, London
Galerie Lelong & Co., Paris, New York
Lévy Gorvy Dayan, New York, Hong Kong, London, Paris
Lisson Gallery, London, New York, Beijing, Shanghai, Los Angeles
Loevenbruck, Paris
Luhring Augustine, New York
Magnin-A, Paris
Mai 36 Galerie, Zurich
Marcelle Alix, Paris
Marfa’ Projects, Beirut
Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, Los Angeles
Galerie Max Mayer, Düsseldorf
Fergus McCaffrey, New York, Tokyo, St Barthélemy
Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brussels, Paris, New York
Mennour, Paris
Meyer Riegger, Berlin, Karlsruhe
Victoria Miro, London, Venice
Misako & Rosen, Tokyo
Modern Art, London, Paris
The Modern Institute, Glasgow
Edouard Montassut, Paris
mor charpentier, Paris, Bogotá
Jan Mot, Brussels
Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna
Richard Nagy Ltd., London
Nahmad Contemporary, New York
Galerie Neu, Berlin
Neue Alte Brücke, Frankfurt am Main
neugerriemschneider, Berlin
Galleria Franco Noero, Turin
Galerie Nathalie Obadia, Paris, Brussels
Ortuzar Projects, New York
P.P.O.W, New York
P420, Bologna
Pace Gallery, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Seoul, Geneva, London
Galerie Papillon, Paris
Perrotin, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul
Galerie Francesca Pia, Zurich
Galeria Plan B, Cluj, Berlin
Galerie Jérôme Poggi, Paris
Prats Nogueras Blanchard, Barcelona, Madrid
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zürich, Vienna
ProjecteSD, Barcelona
Almine Rech, Paris, Brussels, Shanghai, London, New York
Regen Projects, Los Angeles
Michel Rein, Paris, Brussels
Rodeo, London, Pireas
Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, Pantin, Salzburg, Seoul, London
Lia Rumma, Milan, Naples
Salle Principale, Paris
sans titre, Paris
Esther Schipper, Berlin, Seoul, Paris
Semiose, Paris
Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg, Beirut
Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, Kinderhook
Skarstedt, New York, Paris, London
Société, Berlin
Galerie Pietro Spartà, Chagny
Sprovieri, London
Sprüth Magers, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong
Standard (Oslo), Oslo
Luisa Strina, São Paulo
Simone Subal Gallery, New York
Sultana, Paris, Arles
Take Ninagawa, Tokyo
Templon, Paris, Brussels, New York
Tornabuoni Art, Paris, Florence, Forte dei Marmi, Milan, Roma, Crans Montana
Trautwein Herleth, Berlin
Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois, Paris, New York
Van de Weghe, New York
Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Roma
Vedovi Gallery, Brussels
Vitamin Creative Space, Beijing, Guangzhou
We Do Not Work Alone, Paris
Michael Werner Gallery, New York, Berlin, London, Beverly Hills
White Cube, London, New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Seoul
Barbara Wien, Berlin
Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Romainville
Yares Art, New York, Santa Fe
Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Paris
David Zwirner, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Hong Kong
Emergence Sector
Christian Andersen, Copenhagen, Shaun Motsi
Exo Exo, Paris, Lou Fauroux
Fanta-MLN, Milan, Gina Folly
Lars Friedrich, Berlin, Nuri Koerfer
KAYOKOYUKI, Toshima-ku, Kenji Ide
Madragoa, Lisbon, Steffani Jemison
Petrine, Paris, Pierre Allain
Piktogram, Warsaw, Jan Eustachy Wolski
PM8 / Francisco Salas, Vigo, Marija Olšauskaite
ROH Projects, Jakarta, Kei Imazu
Martina Simeti, Milan, Jasmine Gregory
Catinca Tabacaru, Bucharest, Xavier Robles de Medina
Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, Sophie Thun
VI, VII, Oslo, Doris Guo
What Pipeline, Detroit, Bruno Zhu
Whatiftheworld, Cape Town, Lungiswa Gqunt
Premise Sector
Bombon, Barcelona, Nazario
Galerie Dina Vierny, Paris, André Bauchant, Camille Bombois, Séraphine Louis, Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, Louis Vivin
Gallery of Everything, London, Janet Sobel
Loft Art Gallery, Casablanca, Marrakesh, Mohamed Melehi
Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, Wally Hedrick
Pauline Pavec, Paris, Juliette Roche
Nara Roesler, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, New York, Chico Tabibuia (Francisco Moraes da Silva), Tomie Ohtake
Sies + Höke, Düsseldorf, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter
THE PILL, Istanbul, Nil Yalter