In beautiful weather, millionaires and other VIPs are throwing their weight behind their belts on Wednesday morning to be among the first visitors to Art Basel Paris. The huge cross dome made of steel and glass is familiar to these casseroles from the Fiac and other events. But the audience has never been so international at an art fair in the French capital. Expectations were high after two editions of Paris+ par Art Basel in the Grand Palais Éphémère, which were a respectable success, but were not entirely convincing due to the limited space of the temporary architecture. So now the entire grandeur of the Grand Palais, built for the World Exhibition in 1900. Now London has to really dress up warmly, and so does Basel itself.
Art Basel Paris delivers pretty much exactly what you expect from an Art Basel: a large Immendorff from 1990 at Michael Werner (New York, London, Berlin), a medium-sized “Abstract Picture” by Gerhard Richter at Gagosian (10 locations) or expect a slightly larger one at Vedovi (Brussels), a small square by Josef Albers at White Cube (London, Paris, Hong Kong, New York, Seoul) or a six meter wide world map by Alighero Boetti at Tornabuoni (Italy, France, Switzerland). the collectors, museums, art advisors and interior designers willing to invest. As impressive as it is a little boring. And Basel still has a bit of a lead if you follow the galleries’ reports of completion. Hauser & Wirth, for example, announced sales of just under 13 million euros on the first day, but that was shortly after 4 p.m., when the trade fair was still open for four hours.
Below this top league, there are also presentations in the main field that are not only impressive in terms of price but also aesthetically. Eva Presenhuber from Zurich and Vienna gave her entire, not exactly small, stand to Tschabalala Self for “My House”, who also took care of the floor and wall design. The six paintings were already sold on the first day at prices between $230,000 and $350,000, but the sculptures at $165,000 were not yet sold.
In the corridors behind the gallery on the upper floor you can come across Layr from Vienna, Dependance from Brussels, the local Mariane Ibrahim and Max Mayer from Düsseldorf. In the late Fiac days, it was mainly the smaller French galleries that felt a little neglected. Now the wider audience is also finding its way here. It’s all in the mix and also in the routing, although there is still room for improvement.
The obligatory “Emergence” area for young galleries and artists is prominently located in the gallery area with a magnificent view of the hall. Sophie Tappeiner from Vienna introduces herself here with Sophie Thun. The new “Premise” section for curated projects, which can also include works of art created before 1900, is the talk of the fair. The Parisian gallery Dina Vierny, run by the third generation, is doing a great job of fulfilling the task by dedicating its stand to the art dealer Wilhelm Uhde and presenting, among others, paintings by Henri Rousseau and Sonia Delaunay. A (re)discovery is made possible by the Gallery of Everything, which has put together a small exhibition of the surrealist Janet Sobel’s work from the mid-1940s onwards. Paper drawings cost $20,000 to $60,000, paintings from $100,000. A comparison and collaboration of photographs by Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke shows Sies and Höke from Düsseldorf. Not all works are for sale. The ones that are cost in the mid five-figure range.
The next editions will show whether it was just the appeal of the new that attracted the entire art world to Paris. In any case, the premiere of Art Basel Paris was a success.
