How many Basels is too many? Which artists are on the rise? And are some prices too high? Collectors, dealers, and advisors weigh in.
As the days grow long, we arrive again at Art Basel, the biggest fair on the art world’s annual calendar, held this year from June 17 to 22. After two years of market contraction and a laundry list of destabilizing factors on the geopolitical front, it’s tough to attempt any prognostication these days. However, there are plenty of big questions going into the week. Let’s ask them.
Who’s Going?
The recent proliferation of Art Basels—Paris last year, Doha next year—has some wondering: How many Basels is too many, and is interest in the flagship fair waning as a result? Paris has more aura than Basel, some say, and it could be a bigger draw for American and Asian collectors, who aren’t buying at the clip they used to. Doha, meanwhile, promises access to the Gulf’s younger and very flush collectors, as well as the potential to tap into South Asia’s rising art scene.
The prestige of the Swiss event is still powerful, though. Last year, New York dealer Tina Kim placed works with major collectors from Europe, Asia, and the U.S., despite lighter American attendance. “Some of those acquisitions came from collectors who didn’t attend in person but followed our participation closely through our preview,” Kim said. “Everyone is paying attention to Basel, whether or not they’re physically there.”
“If I had to choose just one art fair in a year, Art Basel in Basel would be the one,” said collector Christine Wuerfel-Stauss, who splits her time between the U.S. and Germany. “The city’s scale is intimate and the setting has a remoteness so that it draws only those who are genuinely engaged with the arts.” Galleries usually show their highest-quality works, she added, and she loves the site-specific installations of Art Basel Parcours. “I am absolutely looking forward to seeing Marianna Simnett’s video installation at Hotel Merian this year,” she said.
Still, Kim and Wuerfel-Stauss agreed that the French capital is rising in importance for the contemporary art market. Kim will exhibit in Basel Paris’s Premise sector with a solo presentation of textile works by Korean artist Lee ShinJa (b. 1930). She said the City of Light has built-in international appeal and the smaller scale of the fair offers a different experience than Basel. “But the Paris edition does not yet capture the same panoramic view of the international market that Basel achieves,” she said. “I do not see it as a competition, but rather a sign of broadening of the field,” Wuerfel-Stauss said. “The art world is evolving.”
What’s Hot?
Speaking of evolution, curated sections have become increasingly common at fairs in the last several years, as part of efforts to cultivate new corners of the market. Art Basel’s new “Premiere” section, spotlighting art made in the past five years, is aimed at highlighting mid-career or established artists with institutional momentum. Among the 10 selected galleries is the London gallery Edel Assanti, which is making its Art Basel debut with a solo presentation of American artist Lonnie Holley (b. 1950), whose work will also be featured in Unlimited. His powerful 2024 installation Without Skin, references the suppression of non-violent civil rights protests in the U.S.—timely, indeed. His works are priced between $15,000 to $200,000.
Lonnie Holley, Without Skin (2024). Photo: Rob Harris. © Lonnie Holley. Courtesy the artist and Edel Assanti.
There has always been strong interest in Holley’s work from U.S. collectors, Edel Assanti co-founder Jeremy Epstein said, but Basel brings a “highly discerning audience,” and he’s looking forward to “growing international awareness and reception” for Holley.
The fair’s Premier pivot is a good idea. Amid the market contraction, collectors have gravitated away from young, ultra-contemporary artists (this sector of the market declined the most between 2023 and 2024, according to Artnet’s latest Intelligence Report). Instead, they are now seeking works by more established artists whose markets are still growing. The art advisor Liberte Nuti said a lot of her clients are going for Modern works lately, and the galleries are delivering on that front. “Big contemporary galleries are bringing more 20th-century works this year,” she said. “There’s a revival in interest in Abstract Expressionist work, and overlooked artists—especially women—are in demand.”
Kim concurred, saying that institutional and collector interest in historical textile practices is rising, especially those of women artists finally receiving long-overdue recognition. “We’re also seeing sustained momentum around Asian and Asian diasporic artists, across both American and Asian markets,” she said. This is Kim’s third time at the fair, and she’s participating in the Galleries sector with works by Pacita Abad and Lee ShinJa, among others, priced between $30,000 to $850,000. She is also presenting in Unlimited with a large-scale installation by the beloved late Korean artist Suki Seokyeong Kang, who died in April at 47.
What’s Not?
Are fairs in general losing their luster? The New York and L.A. gallery Clearing is skipping Art Basel this year to launch Maison Clearing, a free, off-site exhibition in a sprawling house near the Messeplatz. Featuring works by over 40 artists—including Sebastian Black and Violet Dennison—the show, curated by new director of programming Olamiju Fajemisin, spans the home’s rooms and gardens and includes attic film screenings and outdoor dining. Collector Alain Servais said on X that he found the house on Booking.com for €700 a day: if true, that makes it magnitudes cheaper than a Basel booth.
Price considerations are everything this Basel week. One of the most expensive works announced so far, a 1969 canvas by Picasso at Pace, is being offered for in excess of $30 million. Nuti said that seems “pretty pricey” for that work. According to the Artnet Price Database, it last sold publicly for £4.26 million ($7.84 million) at Christie’s London in 2006. That’s about $12 million in today’s dollars.
As Artnet Editor-in-Chief Naomi Rea points out in her just-published feature, it’s not just prices, but also the logic that has upheld them over the last 10 to 15 years that is under intense scrutiny right now. She highlights an Alberto Giacometti bust with an estimate of $70 million that failed to attract a buyer at New York’s auctions last month. “Experts blamed the flop on sticker shock,” she wrote. “Others, noting that Giacomettis have exchanged hands for more than double that figure, saw a deeper signal: A crisis in market confidence.”
Dealers asking for top prices this year better be ready to back them up—or bargain hard.
