Huge rush: millions sold at Art Basel in Paris Bad day? Not with these 40 animal photos!

Rarely was the rubble at an art fair in Paris greater than at the first “Paris+ par Art Basel”. Behind the unwieldy name hides nothing more than a new offshoot of the world’s most important contemporary art fair, Art Basel, which the general public has been able to visit since Thursday.

The number of galleries that signed up for the fair was impressive. Art Basel boss Marc Spiegler said there had never been so many applications for a scholarship. 156 galleries from 30 countries were selected.

After its home location in Basel and its sister shows in Miami Beach and Hong Kong, Paris is Art Basel’s fourth exhibition satellite.

Shortly after the VIP opening on Wednesday, collectors and art lovers lined the corridors of the Grand Palais Ephémère in Paris, including ex-footballer and art collector Michael Ballack. The fair lasts until Sunday (23.10.).

Sales in the millions were reported within hours — for example, with David Zwirner, who was said to have made $11 million shortly after the VIP launch. Such amounts have never been reached in Paris in the past, as the gallery announced with branches in New York, Hong Kong, London and Paris.

Zwirner was also a regular at the FIAC (Foire Internationale d’art contemporain) before being ousted by the organizers of the Basel exhibition. Last year, Art Basel won in a tender procedure of the FIAC art fair, held from 1974 to 2021.

Of the galleries, 61 are from France. Art Basel has thus reassured those who feared that the fair would become too international. The name “Paris+ par Art Basel” is also one of the concessions. As Spiegler said in Paris, the event should include up to 250 art dealers when it returns to the Grand Palais, which will be renovated in 2024. The Paris fair will have the Art Basel level, as Spiegler continued. That means: expensive art. And: wealthy collectors from all over the world.

Art Basel has the confidence of collectors and the necessary experience, confirms the Austrian Thaddaeus Ropac, who is also one of the big names in the industry. The move to Art Basel came at the right time for the French capital. “Paris is becoming increasingly important as an art city due to Brexit.” Between a Georg Baselitz for 1.2 million euros and a rarely seen Sigmar Polke from 1983, there was also a large audience in his gallery. (cpf/sda/dpa)