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Art Paris Brings a More Intimate, Grounded Energy to the Grand Palais

Local galleries, accessible price points and a distinctly French sensibility offer a welcome counterpoint to the city's blockbuster fairs.

In front of the Grand Palais, two colossal Haribo-like inflatable silhouettes greeted visitors for gimmicky photo ops. The work by French artist Fabrice Hyber (represented by Nathalie Obadia) introduced a bit of frivolity to Art Paris, a relatively low-key French fair that appeals to local collectors. Beneath a beating spring sun through the historic glass nave, the vibe on the preview day was more a soothing burble than a fizzy buzz; nobody was wearing ostentatious attire. The 28th edition of the fair brought 160 galleries from some 20 countries, with 30 percent first-time participants. As usual, Art Paris provides a local spotlight of the Parisian, and more widely French, art scene, with few blue-chip galleries among the booths, barring Galerie Lelong and Almine Rech. Other powerhouses, despite having spaces nearby on Avenue Matignon, did not attend.

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Almine Rech has been an Art Paris faithful for years. “It’s very important to show our commitment to local art,” senior director Thibault Geffrin told Observer. “We have a lot of artists based in Paris; we try to always include their works on our booth so they can see and promote their work.” A textile piece by French-Malagasy artist Joël Andrianomearisoa—nominated this year for the Prix Marcel Duchamp—was on the wall facing the entrance to the Grand Palais, while a portrait painting by Inès Longevial faced the passageway. The works in the booth ranged from €20,000-100,000; the €100,000 cap was intentional. “Art Basel Paris is a much more international crowd, and is a much bigger fair, so it’s two different presentations,” Geffrin explained, adding—and echoing many—that the flock here is French or more locally European, and the prices reflect that. On the preview morning, Oliver Beer’s 2026 framed pigment on........

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