Art Basel Paris 2025, now in its fourth edition, took place from October 22–26 at the restored 1900 Paris Exposition venue, a Beaux-Arts landmark with Art Nouveau iron and glasswork. The fair hosted 206 international galleries and introduced a new 'Avant-Première' V.V.I.P. day on October 21, where each gallery could allocate six guest passes. Blue-chip sales were swift, led by Hauser & Wirth selling Gerhard Richter's *Abstraktes Bild* (1987) for $23 million to a European collector. Other notable sales included Bruce Nauman's neon sculpture *Masturbating Man* for over $4.7 million and Amedeo Modigliani's *Jeune fille aux macarons* (1918) for $10 million at Pace Gallery. The fair also featured curatorial sectors Emergence (16 solo presentations by emerging artists) and Premise (ten historical projects with works predating 1900).
This edition matters because it solidifies Paris as a global art market hub, rivaling Art Basel's Swiss flagship. The fair benefited from the exceptional quality of concurrent museum exhibitions, including the inauguration of the new Fondation Cartier for contemporary art, a Gerhard Richter survey at Fondation Louis Vuitton, and a George Condo show at Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris. The strong sales and high-profile attendance by the Global Patrons Council (180 top private collectors) underscore the fair's market gravitas and its role in anchoring Paris's art week as a major international event.