Discover 9 Highlights from Art Basel Paris 2025

Art Basel Paris, now in its fourth edition, has firmly cemented its place as one of the world’s top cultural events, and the French capital’s newly renewed status as a global epicenter of art. Housed within the magnificently restored Grand Palais, the fair’s fourth edition was a masterclass in blending blue-chip masterpieces with contemporary edge, drawing a sophisticated crowd and commanding a level of market gravitas that rivaled its Swiss predecessor in June. 

Under the soaring glass roof of the Grand Palais, 206 international galleries gathered from October 22-26 to present works that spanned a century of art—presenting everything from blue-chip Modern masters to the most in-demand contemporary stars. The temperature check began immediately with the new, exclusive Avant-Première day taking place on October 21, the day before the official VIP day. The blue-chip sales were swift and robust. Leading the charge was Hauser & Wirth, who placed a monumental Gerhard Richter—an Abstraktes Bild from 1987—for $23 million, setting a decisive tone.

Among the impressive masterworks, there were also many exciting new discoveries to be made, with two curatorially-driven sectors. The Emergence section, dedicated to 16 solo presentations by rising artists and younger galleries, offered an injection of fresh energy. Suspended above the main floor, these booths became a destination for those scouting the next big thing. In sharp contrast, Premise offered ten focused, historical projects, often incorporating works predating 1900. 

Below, see nine highlights from the fair. 

1. Gerhard Richter at Hauser & Wirth

The single most significant moment of the Art Basel Paris opening was the swift sale of Gerhard Richter’s monumental 1987 work, Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting), at Hauser & Wirth booth to a European collector for $23 million. The painting itself is a dense, multi-layered field of color—a magnificent blend of crimson, deep teal, and charcoal-grey—where the artist’s signature squeegee technique simultaneously builds up and scrapes away paint. This process creates a textured, shimmering surface, blurring the line between spontaneous action and controlled composition, which has made the Abstraktes Bild series one of the most innovative bodies of work in post-war art. The significance of this price is amplified by the major survey of the artist’s work currently running at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in the city. 

2.  Amedeo Modigliani at Pace Gallery

Pace Gallery anchored its presentation with a historical masterpiece: Amedeo Modigliani’s widely exhibited 1918 canvas, Jeune fille aux macarons (Young Woman with Hair in Side Buns), which sold for $10 million. The painting is a striking example of the artist’s mature style, instantly recognizable by the sitter’s elongated neck and the almond-shaped eyes—a signature technique that gives his portraits their famously intimate yet mysterious intensity. The work’s inclusion at Art Basel also served as a preview of a significant new strategic partnership between Pace and the Institut Restellini, headed by Modigliani scholar Marc Restellini. This collaboration, which coincides with the release of Restellini’s definitive catalogue raisonné, positions Pace as a central force in the Modigliani market and will lead to a major exhibition at the gallery in 2027.

3. Ruth Asawa at David Zwirner 

David Zwirner presented a monumental example of Ruth Asawa’s iconic output: Untitled (S. 278, Hanging Nine-Lobed, Single-Layered Continuous Form), circa 1955. This stunning work, crafted from brass wire, is an early and exceptionally rare example of the artist’s symmetrical, continuous forms. Standing nearly ten feet tall, the sculpture dramatically illustrates Asawa’s revolutionary concept of “drawing in space.” She meticulously created the complex, biomorphic shape by looping a single, continuous strand of wire, allowing the air to define the volume. This process rejects the traditional mass of sculpture, creating a form that is both weightless and fully realized. “I’m not so interested in the expression of something. I’m more interested in what the material can do. So that’s why I keep exploring,” said Asawa. Currently, 300 works from her incredible six-decade career are on view at the Museum of Modern Art in New York through February.

 4. Lee ShinJa at Tina Kim Gallery

In the Premise sector, dedicated to curated, thematic presentations that may include work predating 1900, gallery Tina Kim made a debut at Art Basel Paris with a solo presentation of works by trailblazing Korean artist Lee ShinJa. At 95, Lee is a pioneering figure who defied convention to establish abstract textile art in Korea. The gallery’s critically acclaimed exhibition features her mesmerizing woven pieces—works that are less traditional craft and more monumental, richly layered tapestries. The collector and curatorial response was positive: selling four Lee ShinJa textile works to private collectors, one priced at $150,000, two priced at $90,000 each and one priced at $70,000. A fifth Lee ShinJa textile work is on hold with a US institution for acquisition. 

5. Peter Paul Rubens at Gagosian

Playing to the beat of their own drum, Gagosian secured a special exemption to present a 17th-century Old Master: Peter Paul Rubens’s The Virgin and Christ Child, with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist (c. 1611–14). Breaking the fair’s post-20th-century focus, the mega-gallery received the green light in recognition of the painting’s exceptional quality and its resonance with modern and contemporary art. The recently rediscovered oil-on-panel—which previously sold for over $7 million at Sotheby’s in January 2020—is hailed by the gallery as a prime version of the popular subject. It is being exhibited in a curated dialogue with figures like Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, and John Currin. 

6. Isaac Julien at Jessica Silverman Gallery 

Jessica Silverman Gallery presents photographic works from Sir Isaac Julien’s monumental new film, All That Changes You. Metamorphosis. The film is a ten-screen installation commissioned to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Palazzo Te in Mantua, Italy, where it is currently on view through February 1. Starring Gwendoline Christie and Sheila Atim, the work follows two prophetic, otherworldly celestial beings who emerge from the palazzo’s Renaissance frescoed walls to embark on a philosophical, time-traveling journey. The gallery had sold an edition of the stunning inkjet print, Satellite (All That Changes You. Metamorphosis), (2025), which distills the film’s visuals.

7. Djabril Boukhenaïssi at Mariane Ibrahim 

A highlight for Mariane Ibrahim at Art Basel Paris is the work of French painter Djabril Boukhenaïssi, a young rising talent celebrated for his evocative, nocturnal paintings. The large-format work is infused with Boukhenaïssi’s signature nocturnal lyricism, which masterfully explores the delicate threshold between memory, fiction, and the fading presence of the night. This piece serves as an homage to the poets Charles Baudelaire and Rainer Maria Rilke, as well as the haunting, dreamlike palette of Symbolist artist Odilon Redon. The presentation builds anticipation for the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, “Once Upon a Midnight Dreary,” which opens in Chicago this November. Boukhenaïssi’s compositions, often featuring semi-fantastical figures and the repeated motif of the nocturnal moth are notable for their layering of oil paint and pastel, which creates delicate, vibrant textures that pull figures into the depths of the canvas.

8. Alexander Calder at Gladstone Gallery

Gladstone Gallery presents Alexander Calder’s striking standing mobile, Caged Stone on Yellow Stalk (c. 1955). This work, created during a particularly inventive period after Calder moved to his new studio in Saché, France, is a powerful example of the rare “Caged Stone” series, which grounds the artist’s characteristic ethereal motion with a raw, natural rock element. Its arrival at Art Basel Paris is perfectly timed, as the art world celebrates Calder’s enduring legacy with the upcoming opening of Calder Gardens in Philadelphia and the Whitney Museum’s exhibition dedicated to the centennial of Calder’s Circus. Gladstone is asking $5.5 million for the piece.

9. Marie Bracquemond at Pavec Gallery

Pavec Gallery stages a powerful solo presentation of Impressionist painter Marie Bracquemond (1840-1916). Once critically acclaimed, Bracquemond was tragically pushed into early retirement by her husband’s persistent criticism. Now, more than a century later, Bracquemond is finally undergoing a major reassessment, marked by recent institutional acquisitions and record-setting auction prices. This booth marks the first time an international art fair has dedicated a solo show to an Impressionist woman artist with works all painted before 1900. Her still lifes, portraits, and landscapes from the 1870s-90s reveal a delicate, intimate gaze that transforms the everyday into visual poetry and cement her position as one of the “three great ladies,” alongside Berthe Morisot and Mary Cassatt.