While the detritus of weekend protests marked many of Paris’s arrondissements, the international art world proceeded with business as usual. Events and openings went on as planned on Monday night and Tuesday, culminating in the highly anticipated opening of Art Basel Paris and its exclusive Avant Première preview at 3 p.m.
Approximately ten minutes before the doors opened, only a short line had formed outside the Grand Palais, the architectural marvel that serves as the French fair’s home. It was an early indication that this year’s affair felt somewhat more streamlined and measured compared to the debut of Avant Première the previous year. That ultra-VIP event now precedes the fair’s regular VIP opening days.
That initial observation proved true throughout the opening hours. Aisles were comfortably full but easily navigable, and the blue-chip booths were brimming with serious buyers. The fair and participating galleries had seemingly curated and edited down their lists of invites to target only the most dedicated collectors.
While some dealers and advisers told ARTnews that they knew of collectors who had canceled their trips to Paris amid ongoing local protests—though they declined to provide specifics—any concerns that American collectors would stay away proved entirely unfounded. Across the bustling floor, ARTnews spotted prominent figures including Top 200 Collectors Allison Berg, Glenn Fuhrman, Pamela Joyner, Nancy A. Nasher, Bob Clark, and Jason and Michelle Rubell. Other notable attendees included Anne-Cecilie Speyer, Jessica Seinfeld, and Adam Lindemann.
A heavy contingent of U.S. museum directors and curators also made the trip, including Michael Govan of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Massimiliano Gioni of the New Museum, Ruba Katrib of MoMA PS1, Giampaolo Bianconi of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Max Hollein and David Breslin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the Met hosting a large trustee group in the French capital. Prominent actresses Katie Holmes and Natalie Portman were also spotted taking in the presentations.
Art adviser Ana Sokoloff praised the early presentations, telling ARTnews that she was deeply impressed by what she had seen. She felt the booths were especially curated and well thought out this year, adding that it is hard not to be seduced by the venue. "This place is magical," she said.
When asked about the atmosphere of this year’s Avant Première, dealers resoundingly reported a strong, positive energy all around. Mathieu Templon of Paris-based Galerie Templon noted just over an hour into the event, "We’re off to a great start—we’re at home."
The gallery confirmed at least one immediate sale: Bilal Hamdad’s painting L’envers du soir (2026), which sold for €65,000. Hamdad had previously mounted a solo show at the Petit Palais during last year’s Art Basel Paris edition, and Templon described heavy demand for the artist’s work, noting that his upcoming March show is already hotly anticipated.
Because of Avant Première’s shortened timeline, most galleries were only able to report a sale or two during the initial hours, a stark contrast to the lengthy sales reports that typically accompany the close of business on the opening day of Art Basel’s other flagship fairs or those put on by its competitor Frieze, which just concluded its hometown London fairs the week prior.
Addressing the ongoing debate regarding the positioning of London versus Paris in the international calendar, collector Will Paley, who splits his time between New York and São Paulo, described the two cities’ fairs as complementary. "Frieze is primarily for young galleries, young artists, and young collectors with a more adventurous tone, [while] Art Basel Paris has a higher price point," he observed.
Hauser & Wirth president Marc Payot similarly remarked that top-tier attendance remains a key strength of the Paris fair. However, he noted a unique challenge unique to the location: "The problematic side is that you get distracted by the city. People come here to see a thousand things." The fair functions as just one, albeit vital, element of a much larger cultural ecosystem during the week.
Thaddaeus Ropac echoed this sentiment, telling ARTnews that he has found collectors make decisions fast in Paris precisely because the fair must compete with a multitude of local distractions. While some clients noted they would return Wednesday morning for the official VIP opening, others opted to skip it entirely to explore the city’s bevy of museum and gallery shows, or even indulge in shopping.
Even so, that fast-paced environment did not stop major dealers from bringing choice, high-value works to Paris—offerings that were once the exclusive domain of Art Basel’s Swiss fair, where the focus remains squarely on the exhibition floor.
Among the 15 sales Ropac reported on Tuesday were four Picassos dating from 1906 to 1938 for undisclosed prices, a 1953 mixed-media work by Lucio Fontana for €1.8 million, and a 2019 painting by Georg Baselitz for €800,000. "We’re doing very well—but it was expected, to be honest," Ropac said.
Payot noted that while sales tend to happen rapidly during fairs compared to standard gallery operations, contemporary collectors continue to take more time to deliberate and close major deals. "It’s definitely a slower pace than about five years ago, but great things do find great homes," he said.
During the span of Tuesday afternoon alone, Hauser & Wirth sold Gerhard Richter’s 1965 masterpiece Rokokotisch (Rococo Table) for a price in the region of $10 million. The rare early work had been an unexpected addition to the booth and was absent from advance previews.
The gallery also sold Georg Baselitz’s 1965 canvas Der Hirte (The Shepherd) for a price in the region of $10 million, George Condo’s Woman with Designer Shirt (2026) for $2.9 million, Lucio Fontana’s 1961 work Concetto spaziale (Spatial Concept) for €1.7 million (roughly $1.9 million), Philip Guston’s Untitled (1969) for $1.5 million, and Alexander Calder’s mobile Four Dots and Brass Tail (circa 1953) for just under $1 million.
Meanwhile, Pace Di Donna Schrader unveiled what is widely believed to be the most expensive artwork at the fair: a rare, striking painting of a reclining nude woman by Amedeo Modigliani titled Nu étendu (Lolotte) (1917), valued in excess of $100 million. The gallery reported that the painting has not been seen publicly in about a century and originally formed part of Modigliani’s infamous 1917 exhibition at Galerie Berthe Weill, which caused a public scandal for indecency and marked the only solo exhibition held during the artist’s lifetime.
Emmanuel Di Donna described the start of the fair as hugely successful, noting that while placing a museum-caliber Modigliani naturally takes time, the overall sales activity felt "like drinking from a fire hose."
Gagosian declined to provide specific pricing figures but confirmed the sale of a 1987 Willem de Kooning painting for an eight-figure sum, alongside a work by Peter Doig. White Cube reported 16 total sales, highlighted by two paintings by Julie Mehretu—one from 2001 and another from 2018—which sold for $7.85 million each. The gallery’s booth also featured historical works on paper, including a Picasso that fetched €150,000 and a Léger that went for €65,000.
Additional sales reported across the floor included a painting by Victor Man for $1.3 million and two collage works by Wangechi Mutu for $325,000 each, sold by Gladstone Gallery, alongside a Haegue Yang sculpture sold by Kurimanzutto for $110,000.
Brussels-based dealer Xavier Hufkens reported 10 sales, anchored by a Charline von Heyl painting that went for $475,000. "Despite a rather turbulent weekend, we’ve felt a genuine enthusiasm for art from the very start of the fair," Hufkens said in an email. "There’s something about Paris: its contradictions, its restless energy, its ability to surprise you at every turn. Fluctuat nec mergitur, as the city’s motto goes. It feels particularly fitting this week."
Mike Homer, a partner at David Kordansky Gallery, noted that several pending holds successfully converted into confirmed sales, pointing to a renewed collector appetite for physical encounters with art. "There’s a desire to see works in person, in the round—it’s a nice return," he said, citing the sale of a rare Sam Gilliam hard-edge abstraction from 1965, Mycenaean Ode, for $300,000.
This year’s edition featured 12 shared booths representing 24 galleries, marking the highest number in the fair’s history. One prominent example was the joint presentation by Vienna’s Layr and Berlin and Munich’s Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler on the fair’s second floor. Both galleries confirmed they successfully placed several major works.
"We sold a lot of things that we were very keen on placing in very prominent collections, so we’re very happy," said Amadeo Kraupa-Tuskany, specifying that the destinations included notable European collections. Emanuel Layr added that the gallery also successfully placed works with prominent American collectors.
The shared booth featured a careful pairing of historic and contemporary pieces from both gallery programs. Among them was Franz West’s Passstück (1983/1984), an interactive sculpture intended to function like an unusual crutch that alters a viewer’s physical movement. It was displayed alongside Anna Uddenberg’s 2026 sculpture White Noise (Soft Skills), which features a life-size, faceless mannequin whose body is contorted through a futuristic interpretation of ergonomic office furniture.
"Something that really matters to us is staying excited ourselves, but also exciting other people, and asking new questions," Layr reflected. "Now you have to be super open about how you operate—how you present yourself, and how you join forces."
Art adviser Nicolas Nahab, cofounder of NG Partners, observed that galleries are increasingly embracing creative collaborative models to navigate a continued period of adjustment in the broader art market, particularly regarding lingering skepticism over ultra-contemporary pricing.
"Collectors today don’t trust prices like they used to, and don’t take them at face value," Nahab explained. "This lack of trust makes them doubt and interrogate information given to them. They need reassurance, research, and a global understanding of an artist’s practice and market before making a decision, which is why the decision-making is so slow."
"If trust is there," he added, "then the decision is easy for collectors."
