Business Finance Media Technology Policy Wealth Insights Interviews

Art Art Fairs Art Market Art Reviews Auctions Galleries Museums Interviews

Lifestyle Nightlife & Dining Style Travel Interviews

Power Lists Nightlife & Dining Art A.I. PR

About About Observer Advertise With Us Reprints

Amid Protests and an Early Closure Announcement, Art Basel Paris Finds Buyers for Its Safest Bets

Collectors, according to several dealers, moved quickly on established names despite the mounting unrest in the streets.

The show must go on, as they say, though the event around which Paris Art Week arguably orbits will run only half as long this year. Art Basel Paris announced today (Oct. 22) that it will conclude its 2026 edition at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, in response to protests planned in the French capital for Saturday. Amid the week’s ongoing disruptions, including demonstrations that blocked access to the Louvre and forced it to close on Monday, the fair opened to select guests on Tuesday, Oct. 20, for a hyper-exclusive avant-première, followed by the full VIP opening on Wednesday, Oct. 21. On Sunday, fair reps had reassured collectors and art enthusiasts that it would have “extensive protocols in place” for the Paris show and was working “closely with a private security company and, where necessary, the Paris Police Prefecture to always ensure a safe environment.” As to why the early closure is happening when the preview days passed without incident, an appel à rassemblement (call to assemble) is circulating on social media, now very widely shared, suggesting Saturday may hold more riots. No word has yet been given on whether exhibitors will receive a partial refund.

Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter

Thank you for signing up!

By clicking submit, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime.

International collectors, Americans in particular, didn’t let the unrest stop them and came ready to buy. “Art Basel Paris is now undeniably the favorite fair of the year for American collectors, and the protests and looting didn’t keep them away,” art advisor Adam Green told Observer. “Americans love Paris, and it’s an easy fair to convince your spouse to join you for, given the incredible restaurants, shopping and everything else the city has to offer.”

The short avant-première slot, from 3 to 7 p.m., left little time for thorough looking, and many collectors treated it as a first look before returning the following day. Still, the megagalleries were reporting sales by Tuesday evening, and the consensus was that collectors were making decisions faster in Paris than they had at Frieze London.

“This opening afternoon has been very strong, and collectors came ready to make decisions quickly,” said Thaddaeus Ropac. Though concerns about the demonstrations had kept some collectors from traveling, he called it the most international fair of the year. The gallery reported 15 early sales, including four works by Picasso dating from 1906 to 1938 for undisclosed prices, a 1953 mixed-media work by Lucio Fontana for €1.8 million and a 2019 work by Georg Baselitz for €800,000.

“Great edition, serious artists, safe bets,” French art advisor Sascha Zerbib (also behind Austin’s new Ostillo foundation) told Observer at the Wednesday preview, adding that clients now favor long, deep conversations over quick decisions, even though many works were presold. “Safe statements, but great energy. Clients want to be reassured and want to know what they step into. So they are willing to increase their budgets but want pedigree and already established works, preferably with a great history.” The day before, he placed historical works by Sugimoto, Baselitz and Marlene Dumas, along with a group of works by Emma Reyes.

Hauser & Wirth reported activity at the top end, selling Gerhard Richter’s Rokokotisch (Rococo Table) (1965) for around $10 million during the avant-première, alongside Georg Baselitz’s Der Hirte (The Shepherd) (1965) for $10 million and George Condo’s Woman with Designer Shirt (2026) for $2.9 million. Additional sales included a 1961 Concetto spaziale by Lucio Fontana for €1.7 million ($1.9 million), a Philip Guston for $1.5 million and Alexander Calder’s Four Dots and Brass Tail (ca. 1953) for just under $1 million, timed to the gallery’s major Calder exhibition at its Matignon space. Other avant-première placements included works by Henry Taylor for $1 million, Cristina Iglesias for €500,000, Jenny Holzer and William Kentridge for $400,000 each, Lee Bul for $290,000, Roni Horn for $200,000 and George Rouy for £195,000. Five editions by Camille Henrot also sold—three at €130,000 each and two at €160,000 each—alongside works by Noah Davis and Yoshitomo Nara for undisclosed prices.

Richter’s market showed its strength across October’s fairs and auctions. David Zwirner reported several sales of the German artist’s work over the two previews, including a painting for $8.5 million, an overpainted photograph for $110,000 and editions priced between $75,000 and $350,000 each. Other sales included four paintings by Robert Ryman for $4 million, $1.25 million, $850,000 and $650,000; a 1957 Joan Mitchell painting for $3.8 million; a new Marlene Dumas painting for $3 million; and four Josef Albers paintings for $3 million, $900,000, $880,000 and $600,000. Paintings by Luc Tuymans and On Kawara sold for $2.4 million and $2 million, respectively, and a Ruth Asawa sculpture went for $1.2 million. Two Elizabeth Peyton paintings sold for $900,000 and $850,000, alongside a Yu Nishimura painting for $500,000 and a Bridget Riley painting for £450,000.

Gagosian staged a dialogue between contemporary art and the enduring lessons of Marcel Duchamp’s pioneering conceptual investigations, following the gallery’s recent museum-quality Duchamp exhibition at its historic Madison Avenue location. The booth’s highlight was Duchamp’s Fountain (1964, after the lost 1917 original), a porcelain urinal numbered 4/8 from the edition produced with Arturo Schwarz, which also includes two artist’s proofs and two hors commerce copies.

This time, however, it was the new secondary-market venture Pace Di Donna Schrader that brought one of the fair’s most expensive offerings: Amedeo Modigliani’s seductive, exceptionally rare reclining nude Nu étendu (Lolotte) (1917), with an asking price above $100 million. “Paris is deeply connected to the artists who transformed modern art, making it a perfect setting for our presentation. Bringing Modigliani’s Nu étendu (Lolotte), held in the same private collection since 1920, to Art Basel Paris has been a highlight, and the excitement surrounding the work speaks to the power of rediscovering masterpieces with extraordinary histories,” Emmanuel Di Donna, co-founder of Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries, told Observer.

White Cube’s museum-worthy presentation likewise staged a dialogue between contemporary art and the early avant-gardes around form, symbolism and expressive restraint. Among the highlights was Brancusi’s iconic Oiseau, timed to the opening of “Brancusi: The Artist and His Studio” at MoMA, which features rare sculptures, photographs, films, hand-carved furniture and tools on loan from the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Early sales across the two preview days included a Tracey Emin canvas hanging beside the Brancusi for £990,000 and two gestural Julie Mehretu canvases priced at $7.85 million each. The gallery also placed a gunpowder work on canvas by Cai Guo-Qiang for $700,000, sculptures by Antony Gormley priced between £250,000 and £500,000, a sculpture by Enrico David for £120,000 and another by Marguerite Humeau for £115,000. With a major Ibrahim Mahama exhibition opening........

© Observer