ART BASEL PARIS TAKES OVER LE GRAND PALAIS.
When Art Basel Paris opened its doors to its first VIP Guests on Wednesday afternoon, Paris was filled with sunshine, it felt like it was summer once again. Under the glass roof of the spacious Grand Palais, the fair brought together 195 galleries (41 more than at the Grand Palais Éphémère last year, with 53 galleries showing for the first time at Art Basel Paris) from 42 countries and territories, including 65 galleries operating spaces in France. Running through Sunday, Art Basel Paris (previously, it was called Paris+Art Basel) attracted an overall attendance of more than 65,000 visitors and brought significant results to the participating galleries: for instance, on the very first day London’s White Cube sold one of its most expensive pieces, Julie Mahretu’s painting “Insile” for 9,5m dollars, Kukje, the only Korean gallery at the fair, boasted a sale of a Lee Ufan artwork for a million dollars, while New York’s Gladstone gallery traded a series of objects by Mike Kelley for 2 million dollars.
And of course, since everything takes place in Paris, the fashion and luxury capital of the world, some luxury players also participate in the art week. For example, for the second edition of Art Basel Shop, curated by one and only Sarah Andelman from Colette, Guerlain created a perfume presented in a case designed by Julie Beaufils (another creation from the beauty giant, a perfume bottle designed by one of the most expensive living artists Lee Ufan). Louis Vuitton, one of Art Absel Paris’s main partners from day one, presented in the best spot in the nave, when you mount the grandiose art nouveau staircase, a special exhibition dedicated to their unique partnership with architect Frank Gehry, who built 10 years ago La Fondation Louis Vuitton and created his very first sculptural bag for the house. These partnerships help the fair both keep prices lower for participating galleries and propose affordable tickets for the general public.
This season, the public program also included artworks spread all around the city – think “Giant Triple Mushroom” by Carsten Höller at Place Vendôme, Niki de Saint Phalle’s “L’Arbre Serpent” just in front of the Academie Française, Yayoi Kusama’s bronze “Pumpkin L” at Avenue Wilson or Cesar’s “Pouce” at Palais Royal. But that’s not all: some other fashion brands jumped at the opportunity to participate and revealed unique experiences just in time for Art Basel Paris. For example, Burberry presented six historical trenches, replicas of the archive models, and three never-before-seen paintings by London-based artist Alvaro Barrington in their boutique on Avenue Montaigne, just a five-minute walk away from Le Grand Palais.
MIU MIU’S ‘TALES AND TELLERS’.
It’s a major first for Art Basel Paris, uniting with a fashion brand to support the public programme of the fair, open to all. Miu Miu took over the Palais Iena, their regular show venue during Paris Fashion Week. The iconic space was transformed into a giant installation by Polish interdisciplinary artist Goshka Macuga: bits from the show venue stayed in place from October 1 (like the giant newspaper plant, publishing a special edition of the “The Truthless Times”), but some extra details were revealed, crafted especially for Art Week. This one-of a-kind performance titled “Tales and Tellers”, created in collaboration with Elvira Dyangani Ose, art curator and director of MACBA (Barcelona’s Museum of Contemporary Art) puts the spotlight on the thirty-five feminist heroines from the brand’s cycle of films “Women’s Tales” and artistic interventions at previous Miu Miu shows, projected on different screens from iPhones to HP laptops. They come to life through a series of eye-catching performances, all dressed impeccably in recent looks from Miu Miu collections – for instance, Carmen from Chloe Sevigny’s movie recites a witty feminist stand-up comedy; young girl Jasmine from Agnès Warda universe tells us about her crushed romance with a boy who thought that she was too bizarre for him, while top model Caterina from Laura Citarella’s short detective story switches her Miu Miu outfits just in front of us. At the finale, they all come to the conference hall, and smash their hands on the table in unison, a symbol of feminist unanimity and empowerment. Mind-blowing.
DESIGN TREASURES.
For the second edition of Design Miami.Paris, at Karl Lagerfeld’s former mansion on Rue de l’Université, the fair brought more than twenty design galleries together, mixing historical chef oeuvres with contemporary design pieces. Among highlights are never-seen-before Lalanne’s bronze dining table and matching chairs from Galerie Mitterand, Tappeto Balante’s red and green sofa presented by Galleria Rossella Colombari, Campana Brothers’ Yves Klein blue chairs for Louis Vuitton, Jean Prouvé’s Carnac house installed in the courtyard by Galerie Downtown-LAFFANOUR, and vintage golden Piaget watches with jade dials and Bulgari “Monete” bracelets adorned with Roman coins from jewellery antique dealer Kerry Berreby.
SOTHEBY’S RELOCATES TO A NEW BUILDING.
It’s a housewarming season for Sotheby’s, which just relocated its Parisian headquarters to 83 Rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré, just 200 metres away from their previous home on the same street. The new building boasts 3000 square meters (now there is space for everything from a restaurant to a wine cellar and a luxury saloon) and was revamped by French designer Hubert Le Gall, who decided to keep its glass walls on the ground floor so that every Parisian can have a look at the exhibition on view and the bidding session live from the outside.
The opening week was marked by two auctions “Surrealism and its Legacy” and “Modernités” (the overall sales resulted in €59.2m with some of the artworks sold for 4 times more than an estimate such as Salvador Dalí’s “Meditative Rose”, which was auctioned off for a record €3.9m instead of an estimated €700.000) – as well as an exhibition of the most sought-after pieces on loan from private collectors: like the very first black Birkin bag dating back to 1985, when Monsieur Dumas met Jane Birkin on the airplane from Paris to London. The bag used to belong to Jane Birkin (so it has her initials and traces of her XL political stickers) before she sold it at the Solodarité Sida auction to raise funds for Aids research in 1994. Today the bag is in the hands of a private collector and one of the most knowledgeable Chanel and Hermès specialists, Catherine B (you can discover some of the pieces from her collection at her boutique on Rive Gauche, Les 3 Marches de Catherine B).
WHAT TO SEE IN PARIS:
If you plan to visit Paris in the coming months, don’t miss a chance to visit some of the most exciting art viewings of the season that opened during the busy Art Week, proving once again that the City of Lights plays one of the most important parts in the global art scene. Fondation Louis Vuitton puts into the spotlight the life and career of Tom Wesselmann, a leading figure of pop art, placing him alongside his American pop art gang (Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Jales Rosenquist) – but also the works of the artists from all corners of the Globe who came afterwards such as Ai Weiwei, Jeff Koons or Derrick Adams, who have a similar pop sensibility, giving us a vision of the role that pop art plays today (“Pop Forever, Tom Wesselman &…” until March 3). Francois Pinault’s Bourse de Commerce this season places a bet on the emblematic Italian art movement Arte Povera and invites us to delve into the secret of its timeless relevance (“Arte Povera” until January 25). Whereas the Gagosian art gallery gives us a unique chance to enter into the light world of James Turrell, bringing his most recent art installations to its hangar space at Le Bourget (“James Turrell: At One” until Summer 2025).
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