Birth of a Giant: Paris+ par Art Basel

The first edition of Paris+ par Art Basel art fair wrapped up on Sunday, bringing together 156 galleries from 30 countries and attracting more than 40,000 visitors, according to a statement, including leading private collectors, museum directors, and high-level patrons.

The highly anticipated fair is firmly set to become the flagship event on the cultural calendar, coinciding with the main exhibitions by the city’s leading museums that are customarily launched for the rentrée culturelle period every autumn.

Prepared in record time with only nine months of lead time, the event slotted into the space previously occupied by FIAC. The inaugural Paris edition of the global juggernaut that is Art Basel, extended beyond the Grand Palais Éphémère (a temporary structure on the Champ de Mars to be used until 2024 while the majestic original undergoes renovation) through a dynamic program of collaborations with Paris’s cultural institutions and its city-wide sector Sites, which presented over 20 publicly accessible works and interventions in unique settings throughout the city.

While Paris is universally recognized as a capital of culture, a place at the main table of contemporary art had so far eluded the city, if compared to London, Berlin, or New York. At the inauguration ceremony, President of France Emmanuel Macron congratulated Art Basel on having ‘reinvented a true international contemporary art fair in Paris’, while Paris+ par Art Basel Director Clément Delépine said the debut represents a true inflection point for the arts community in France, and celebrated the excitement in the halls and throughout Paris as ‘a testament to the city’s renewed momentum’.

‘Paris is booming’, gallery owner Kamel Mennour said to Reuters. Mennour, who reportedly sold two sculptures by Alberto Giacometti for a combined $4.2 million, added that while Paris already has a lot of energy, working with Art Basel created momentum, and attracted a new type of public, coming from America and Asia.

Judging from reports on this record-setting debut, the new art fair is here to stay. Mark your calendars for next year, Paris+ par Art Basel will be back on October 19-22, 2023.