Since Art Basel took over FIAC's October slot, the fair has effectively completed the internationalization of Paris Art Week—transforming Paris from a historically prestigious stop on the circuit into the uncontested epicenter of the European art calendar. Propelled by the post-Brexit shift that drained cultural gravity from London, Paris has in recent years fully reclaimed its status as the most vibrant art capital in Europe. The city’s art week has become one of the few happenings every serious collector blocks off in advance thanks to a rare convergence of world-class exhibitions, powerhouse fairs and stunning urban beauty.

With the opening of Art Basel Paris—returning once again to the newly restored Grand Palais in the heart of the city—we scouted the programs of the city’s galleries and major museums to highlight the shows that should be at the top of your itinerary.

Since its opening in 2021—when Tadao Ando transformed the former stock exchange into one of the most spectacular contemporary art museums in Europe—Pinault’s Bourse de Commerce has become an essential stop on any trip to Paris. This season, it presents a sweeping survey dedicated to Minimalism, tracing the movement’s global evolution and far-reaching influence. Bringing together an exceptional selection of works from the Pinault Collection alongside loans from major institutions, the exhibition (curated by Jessica Morgan, director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York) charts the diversity of Minimalism from the 1960s onward, when artists like Dan Flavin, Robert Ryman, On Kawara, Agnes Martin and François Morellet initiated a radical shift toward extreme reduction and essential objecthood. Stripping away authorship and ornamentation, they elevated the industrial object—mass-produced, standardized and aesthetically neutral—as a catalyst for chance, perception and spatial awareness. “With its precise expression and radicalism that eliminates superfluous detail, Minimal Art captures the heart of the matter,” François Pinault writes in the exhibition catalogue. “It was through Minimal Art that I realized the mind could be freed to venture beyond appearances. For the first time, I am revealing the most personal aspect of my art collection. This driving force has accompanied and inspired me for over fifty years.”

One of the most anticipated moments of Art Basel Paris is the unveiling of Fondation Cartier’s new venue at Place du Palais-Royal. Designed by star architect Jean Nouvel, the space is conceived as a dynamic architectural organism—“the future of cultural infrastructure,” as Béatrice Grenier, director of curatorial affairs at Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, told Observer ahead of the opening. A fluid environment that fosters a deeply multimedia and transdisciplinary approach, the building dissolves boundaries between practices and fields of thought. The inaugural exhibition, “Exposition générale,” curated by Grenier, will put this vision to the test. Featuring nearly 600 works by more than 100 artists and creatives from around the world—including Claudia Andujar, James Turrell, Sarah Sze, Olga de Amaral, Junya Ishigami, Solange Pessoa, David Lynch, Annette Messager, Cai Guo-Qiang, Diller Scofidio Renfro and Chéri—it traces forty years of art through the Fondation Cartier’s collection. The combination of Nouvel’s architecture and Formafantasma’s exhibition design creates an open, continuous experience of 40 years of art history across narratives, cultural backgrounds and media.

Timed with Art Basel Paris, Fondation Louis Vuitton is unveiling an expansive career survey—unmatched in both scale and chronological scope—dedicated to the multifaceted practice of German painter Gerhard Richter. Featuring 275........

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