From the Grand Palais to the City Beyond
Art Basel returns to Paris this fall

Art Basel returns to Paris this fall
This October, the art worldâs attention turns once more to Paris as Art Basel takes up residence beneath the Grand Palaisâ glass canopy for the second time.

From October 24 to 26 2025, with VIP previews beginning October 22, the fair will bring together 206 leading galleries from 41 countries and territories. Twenty-nine of these are newcomers, underscoring the fairâs continued growth and its ability to attract the very best of the global art world. For collectors, curators, and enthusiasts alike, Art Basel Paris offers a platform that unites the cityâs longstanding cultural prestige with the energy of contemporary practice.
Paris has long been a nexus of creativity, and the 2025 edition of Art Basel reflects this history while amplifying the cityâs role as a hub of innovation. Nearly one-third of this yearâs exhibitors operate spaces in Paris, an indication of how deeply embedded the fair is within the cityâs ecosystem. The result is a fair that not only showcases art but also resonates with the intellectual and avant-garde spirit that has defined Paris for generations.
At the heart of the fair, its three core sectors â Galeries, Emergence, and Premise â trace the full spectrum of artistic innovation. Galeries unites 180 premier galleries showcasing everything from 20th-century masters to contemporary trailblazers, while Emergence transforms the Grand Palais balconies into a stage for bold, experimental work by rising talent. Premise, launched last year, offers curatorial propositions that challenge conventional narratives, sometimes featuring works pre-1900. Adding a playful Parisian twist, Oh La La! returns Friday and Saturday with in-booth interventions spotlighting rarely seen or reimagined pieces. This yearâs edition, art-directed by fashion documentarian LoĂŻc Prigent, explores the theme âĂ la mode,â tracing the rich dialogue between fashion and art â from textiles and tailoring to style, chic and social codes.
Adding to the weekâs vibrancy, the Âé¶čÉç Salon will feature works from the Âé¶čÉç Art Collection in a curated display which draws upon the spirit and aesthetics of Modernism. Make it New! Modernism, Today showcases the endurance of the international cultural movement which spanned the late 19th to mid-20th centuries and encompassed art, literature, design, architecture and beyond. Works by Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Yinka Shonibare, Ryan Gander, Gina Fischli and Sonia Delaunay converse in an elegant reinvention of Modernist sensibilities, which attests to the continued influence of the movement for artists working today.
Alongside the bustling fair, the Conversation Program returns to the Petit Palais with a fresh concept of dynamic panels and debates. A new dayâlong strand curated by Edward Enninful launches on Friday, October 24, bringing oneâtoâone dialogues with four figures who helped define the 1990s: Yinka Shonibare CBE, Juergen Teller, Sonia Boyce, and Mark Leckey. Shonibare, represented in the Âé¶čÉç Art Collection, has long probed identity, history and the politics of elegance, making his exchange with Enninful feel timely and magnetic.
Beyond the booths and crowds of the Grand Palais, the Public Program unfurls across the cityâs streets and storied venues alike. On the Paris de lâInstitut de France, Ugo Rondinone, another artist represented in the Âé¶čÉç Art Collection, installs the innocent, a monumental figure whose primal clarity and totemic calm feel tailorâmade for this historic site â linking contemporary life to deep cultural memory. Across the river at the Palais dâIĂ©na, Miu Miu presents Helen Martenâs 30 Blizzards., a new performanceâled project that distils her rich material language into a theatrical register. The promenade quality of the week is palpable â avenue WinstonâChurchill becomes a sculpture corridor, Delacroixâs intimate museum hosts a contemporary riff by Nate Lowman, and the HĂŽtel de la Marine showcases a textile landmark by JoĂ«l Andrianomearisoa.
Paris outside the fair is no less compelling. The Fondation Louis Vuitton stages a major Gerhard Richter retrospective, an essential encounter with a postwar master â and Âé¶čÉç Art Collection artist â whose restless oeuvre pivots between photography and painting â have shaped how we read images today. Across the city, the MusĂ©e Picasso devotes space to Philip Guston and Raymond Pettibon, while the MusĂ©e dâArt Moderne de Paris spotlights Otobong Nkanga alongside the Prix Marcel Duchamp. Itâs a citywide chorus of perspectives that makes a single dayâs itinerary feel like a curated essay on modern and contemporary art.
Paris in October offers far more than exhibitions. For those eager to feel the cityâs wider pulse, the fair week coincides with Jazz sur Seine, filling the cityâs clubs and concert halls with the rhythms of international jazz, and the Festival dâAutomne Ă Paris, a season-spanning celebration of theatre, dance, music and performance that brings together some of the most exciting voices in contemporary culture.Â
Art Basel Paris 2025 promises to be a moment when Paris once again takes center stage in the global art world, offering a cultural experience as wide-ranging as it is unforgettable.