Discover 10 Highlights from Art Basel Miami 2025
From a monumental painting by the trailblazing late artist Sam Gilliam at Pace to a rare “Infinity Mirror Room” by Yayoi Kusama at Victoria Miro, plus Frida Kahlo’s only known miniature self-portrait on offer for $15 million at Weinstein gallery, these masterworks caused a stir on opening day
Every December, the cultural calendar builds to a fever pitch and culminates on the sunny shores of Miami Beach. The festivities center around Art Basel Miami Beach, which is celebrating its 23rd edition this year with 283 galleries from 43 countries and territories, but there are also a slew of dynamic fairs taking place throughout the week, including Untitled, Design Miami, NADA, and Art Miami. Outside the fair walls, the annual pilgrimage is a whirlwind week of parties, events, artist commissions, and luxury brand activations.
After a year of palpable caution in the global art market, this year’s edition of the highly anticipated Art Basel Miami Beach arrived with curious expectation. But any lingering anxieties were dissolved by the residual optimism of the record November auctions and the slow crawl of the market year gave way to a decisive, buzzy energy. “There is no fair in the U.S. that rivals Art Basel Miami,” says David Maupin, gallery partner at Lehmann Maupin. “Every year, it’s one of our most productive and rewarding events on the art-world calendar. We’ve placed over 15 works so far, which is a good indication of a healthier market heading into 2026.”
“We are off to a very strong start,” added Larry Gagosian. “I’m happy to see the momentum from the November auction season in New York is carrying over into the art fairs.” On opening morning, the usual long queues of VIPs snaked through the convention center and the mood felt jovial as collectors began to swiftly snap up important works by modern and contemporary masters.
Below, discover 10 incredible works that caused a stir on opening day.
1. Sam Gilliam at Pace
A monumental work, Heroines, Beyoncé, Serena and Althea (2020) by the late abstract master Sam Gilliam served as a dynamic statement piece for Pace’s booth. Executed late in his career, the striking painting showcases his signature expressive texture and profound command of color while powerfully celebrating contemporary Black female icons: Beyonce, Serena Williams, and tennis player Althea Gibson. As institutional and market interest in Gilliam remains high—with a major exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art running through 2026 as well as an upcoming Pace gallery show—this work’s compelling subject matter, technical mastery, and scale were a standout at the fair. The gallery confirmed the sale of the work on the opening morning for $1,100,000.
2. Do Ho Suh at Lehmann Maupin
At Lehmann Maupin’s booth, a seminal sculpture titled Some/One (2014) made an immediate visual impact. Purchased by a collector on the fair’s second day for $1 million, the work is a promised gift to a major American museum. Suh, who is celebrated for his ethereal, textile-based architectural installations that investigate personal themes like home and memory, created this work in 2014 in an exploration of collective, public identity. Constructed from thousands of shimmering, reflective identity plates (or dog tags) woven together to form a protective shroud or ceremonial figure, it represents the tension between the self and the collective and was likely inspired by the artist’s mandatory service in the military in Korea. Another example of the piece lives in the collection of the Seattle Art Museum.
3. Derek Fordjour at David Kordansky
New York–based artist Derek Fordjour unveiled a mesmerizing new work, Laps at Dawn, 2025, at David Kordansky’s booth. Known for his distinctive, multi-layered canvases and mixed-media approach—often incorporating patterned paper, cardboard, and broad impasto—Fordjour draws on visual language borrowed from parades, athletic contests, and circuses to explore themes of Black identity, performance, and systemic inequality. Rendered in bold, vibrant colors, the piece captures a moment in the quiet early morning as swimmers prepare to dive, depicting the emotional weight often at play beneath the surface of public performance.
4. Andy Warhol at Lévy Govy
Amongst the blue-chip masterpieces at New York’s Lévy Gorvy Dayan, Andy Warhol’s monumental Muhammad Ali (1977) was the booth’s centerpiece and on offer at $18,000,000. The acrylic and silkscreen on canvas, which inspired Warhol’s later Athletes series, was originally owned by Richard L. Weisman, and is personally autographed by Ali on the reverse. The painting’s appearance in Miami marks a full-circle moment, returning Ali to the place where he won his career-defining fight against Sonny Liston in 1964, which took place at the Miami Beach Convention Center. “We are in a moment of connoisseurship where top collectors want the best of everything,” gallery partner Brett Gorvy said in a statement. “With the 1977 painting in our booth, you have the best of Warhol, and an image that captures the spirit of the moment.”
5. Frida Kahlo at Weinstein Gallery
Frida Kahlo continues to build a monumental legacy, recently becoming the world’s most expensive woman artist at auction during the November sales. Against this backdrop of high records, Weinstein Gallery presents a quieter and deeply personal piece in Miami: Autorretrato en Miniatura (ca. 1938). The only miniature self-portrait she is known to have created, measuring just 5cm by 4cm, the tiny canvas was painted for the poet José Bartoli, who safeguarded it within his personal collection for five decades. Its reappearance now, sourced directly from the collection of gallery founder Rowland Weinstein, offers a rare moment of connection with the private and personal side of the artist. It is on offer for a staggering $15 million.
6. Anish Kapoor at Lisson Gallery
Lisson Gallery saw the swift sale of Anish Kapoor’s striking painting Untitled (2015), which fetched GBP 500,000 (approximately $666,533) on opening morning. Executed in oil on canvas, the richly painted, expressive piece stood in stark material contrast to the mirrored illusions and pigment voids Kapoor is often associated with, and reveals the artist’s longstanding engagement with the traditions of Abstract Expressionism.
7. Yayoi Kusama at Victoria Miro
Easy to miss due to its mirrored surface, a highlight at Victoria Miro’s gallery is Yayoi Kusama’s Where the Lights in My Heart Go, one of the most conceptually rare of the artist’s celebrated “Infinity Mirror Rooms.” Unlike the majority of her immersive environments, which rely on thousands of twinkling, LED-fueled bulbs to create the illusion of endless space, this particular installation achieves its vast, cosmic effect through a totally different technique using only ambient light to transform the space. Throughout the day, visitors could be seen waiting in line to experience the rare museum-quality work.
8. Richard Hunt at White Cube
At White Cube, Richard Hunt’s Half Circle Runner (1979) is a powerful bronze sculpture that is a direct tribute to the legendary American sprinter, Jesse Owens. Hunt, whose work is on view in a concurrent exhibition at the ICA Miami, created the piece after Owens received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976. Referencing the 200-meter dash, the sculpture’s angular planes and sweeping, cantilevered curves perfectly abstract the athlete’s launch from the starting blocks. It quickly sold on opening day for $1 million.
9. Pae White at Kaufmann Repetto
At Kaufmann Repetto’s booth, Pae White’s distinctive, double-sided tapestries are a magnificent study in contrasts. Produced in Belgium using an industrial loom, these hanging textiles are crafted with a blend of cotton, polyester, and Lurex. These are intentionally more modest in size and experimental in nature than the six-foot works she is known for. Looking closer at the abstract, shimmering brocade is a secret natural world filled with snails, tiny bugs, and delicate branches hidden within the geometric patterns.
10. Eva Helene Pade at Thaddaeus Ropac
The rising star Eva Helene Pade continues her compelling exploration of collective human experience in Sol, a monumental 2025 oil on canvas, on view at Thaddaeus Ropac. Pade’s signature approach depicts groups and crowds as blurred, kinetic masses where limbs and torsos and other body parts seem to multiply and dissolve into each other. This year, Pade presented a buzzworthy debut show at the gallery in October and her first museum show at the Arken Museum, Denmark.