“Security measures have been reinforced and we are in contact with the authorities to ensure a maximum level of security for visitors and exhibitors,” the organizers of “Paris by Art Basel” told AFP, three days after the murder of a teacher in front of a college in Arras, against a backdrop of fear of importing the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
A monumental sculpture by Swiss artist Urs Fischer, Wave, was installed on Place Vendôme, while works by international artists took over the Tuileries garden.
The square in front of the Institut de France, headquarters of the French academies, hosts an installation by the American Sheila Hicks, known for her iconoclastic works in wool, linen and cotton.
Another nugget of this free tour “outside the walls”: the Palais d’Iéna is exhibiting a new work by the Frenchman Daniel Buren and the Italian Michelangelo Pistoletto.
The nerve center of the event, the ephemeral Grand Palais, built while awaiting the end, in 2024, of the restoration work on the Grand Palais, hosts more than 150 galleries representing around thirty countries, visible from Wednesday for professionals and from Friday to Sunday for the general public.
“Paris by Art Basel” replaced the Fiac (international contemporary art fair) in 2022, under the aegis of the Swiss leader in the sector, which organizes it alongside three others, in Basel (Switzerland), Miami (United States). -United States) and Hong Kong.
Since Brexit and the decline of London as the stronghold of the art market in Europe, a number of international gallery owners have joined Paris, also attracted by new exhibition venues and the aura of its major cultural institutions.
“The collapse of cryptocurrencies, the war in Ukraine and inflation have had repercussions on the art market but (…) Paris is a gateway to the European market. 50% of art market transactions within the EU take place in France, which consolidates its fourth place in the world,” notes Clément Delépine, director of Paris by Art Basel, to AFP.
On the auction house side, Christie’s told AFP that it had made a “strategic choice” by organizing several exceptional sales in “Paris rather than London”. Among them, a work by Joan Miró, Paintings (Women, Moon, Stars), estimated at “eight figures”.
Sotheby’s is organizing a sale dedicated to European avant-gardes, including a painting by the master of surrealism René Magritte, estimated at 10 to 15 million euros. Entitled “La Valse-hesitation (1955)”, this painting depicting two masked apples in the night, in front of a cloudy clear blue sky, has not been seen in public for half a century.
Many trade fairs are taking over the capital at the same time. Design Miami, international leader in design fairs, is making its debut. Asia NOW devotes contemporary Asian art with a focus on Central Asia and textiles and AKAA (Also known as Africa), contemporary African artists. Arrived last year, OFFSCREEN focuses on still and animated images.
