Art Basel Paris closed its fourth edition on a high note on October 26. Following a spirited start at Avant-Première and the VIP preview, the momentum carried through the weekend as more than 73,000 visitors filled the Grand Palais, booths stayed busy, and acquisitions continued right up to Sunday.

The first two preview days saw notable seven- and eight-figure sales, led by Hauser & Wirth with Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1987) selling for USD 23 million during the new Avant-Première preview. Pace placed Amedeo Modigliani’s Jeune fille aux macarons (1918) for just under USD 10 million and Agnes Martin’s Children Playing (1999) for USD 4.5 million. David Zwirner reported multiple seven-figure results, including Ruth Asawa’s hanging sculpture for USD 7.5 million and a Martin Kippenberger painting for USD 5 million.

Over the following days, the top end of the market showed no signs of slowing, as blue-chip galleries carried the energy straight through the weekend. White Cube, which made headlines when a 2007 painting by Julie Mehretu sold for USD 11.5 million during the VIP preview, maintained the momentum with several major sales, including a 1973 Alexander Calder mobile which sold for USD 4.85 million, an intimate 2001 painting by Luc Tuymans for USD 1.35 million, and a recent gunpowder work by Cai Guo-Qiang for USD 1.2 million.

The week proved equally eventful for Thaddaeus Ropac, whose USD 4 million sale of Georg Baselitz’s bronze sculpture Cowboy (2024) on Wednesday set the tone for a string of sales that followed. By Sunday, four additional oil paintings by the German artist had found collectors, selling for between USD 988,000 and 1.4 million. Among other works that caught visitors’ eyes at Ropac’s booth was Elizabeth Peyton’s Versailles-inspired The Solemn Entry of Louis XIV 1667 (2016), which sold for USD 1.3 million. Reflecting on the week, founder Thaddaeus Ropac remarked: ‘It was a very strong week in Paris – better than expected, with a notable gain in momentum.’

Institutional interest also remained robust. Goodman Gallery confirmed several key museum acquisitions, including two important works by South African artist William Kentridge: a 1994 drawing purchased by a US museum for USD 600,000 and a 1991 film acquired by Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art for USD 450,000. Additional sales included two glass-bead pieces from Kapwani Kiwanga’s ‘A Coincidence of Wants’ series (each USD 130,000), both acquired by European collectors.

Across the fair, French and European galleries enjoyed a strong domestic vitality. In the Galeries sector, Parisian gallery Mennour reported three sales above the USD 1 million mark, including an Andy Warhol work (USD 1.5 million) and two paintings by Lee Ufan (USD 1 million each). Tornabuoni Art sold Giorgio Morandi’s painting Nature Morte (c. 1950) for USD 2.3 million, while at Templon, several works by Kehinde Wiley were sold for between USD 85,000 and 125,000.

There was no slowing down for local dealers. Paris-based Galerie Chantal Crousel confirmed significant sales of works by Gabriel Orozco, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Mona Hatoum, and Haegue Yang, priced between USD 87,000 and 140,000, while at galerie frank elbaz’s booth, works by Sheila Hicks, Kenjiro Okazaki, Mungo Thomson, and Machiko Ogawa fetched between USD 14,000 and 300,000.

European galleries from beyond French borders also shared in the success, with Italian gallery P420 noting enduring demand for drawings and paintings. Over the weekend, collectors visiting their booth snapped up several ballpoint pen works by Irma Blank ranging from USD 11,000 to 150,000, two paintings by Italian artist and poet Filippo de Pisis priced USD 75,000–115,000, and four oil paintings by Rodrigo Hernández priced USD 7,500–14,000.

Looking beyond Europe, sales by international galleries reflected appetite for cross-cultural dialogue. Seoul’s Kukje Gallery had a remarkably busy week, reporting strong results for Korean artists including Lee Ufan and Ha Chong-Hyun, with prices ranging from USD 250,000 to 1.2 million.

Young galleries and first-time participants also made their mark by closing multiple mid-range sales, showing healthy demand for works below USD 10,000. The Tbilisi-based gallery LC Queisser made an impression during its debut in the fair’s main sector, selling four mixed-media works by Georgian artist Elene Chantladze for just over USD 8,000 each.

In the Emergence sector, The Pill placed their entire Nefeli Papadimouli installation, composed of eight separate textile panels, with a French private collection for USD 100,000–120,000 in the first hours of the fair.

Among this year’s standout successes was Saudi gallery Athr’s booth in the Galeries sector, where they staged a focused presentation of three female artists – Sarah Abu Abdallah, Hayfa Algwaiz, and Lulua Alyahya – and sold works by each, with prices ranging from USD 2,800 to 16,500. The results underscored Saudi Arabia’s growing cultural and commercial visibility on the global stage. Cofounder Mohammed Hafiz reflected: ‘Both the reception and sales were incredible, and the consistent presence of engaged collectors showcased the fair’s growing strength.’

Female artists were also at the fore in Premise, the fair’s sector dedicated to tightly curated and often historical presentations. Parisian gallery Pavec reported multiple sales from their solo presentation of Marie Bracquemond, a French Impressionist whose paintings have recently gained renewed recognition, with prices between USD 45,000 and 60,000. In their nearby booth, Galerie Eric Mouchet sold 10 works by early Bauhaus artist Ella Bergmann-Michel for a combined total of USD 523,000, while Tina Kim Gallery sold five textile works by Korean fiber-art pioneer Lee ShinJa for prices between USD 70,000 and 200,000 each.

Beyond the Grand Palais, monumental works in the Public Program attracted attention. At the Cour de l’Hôtel de la Marine, Almine Rech sold Joël Andrianomearisoa’s large-scale textile installation Les Herbes folles du vieux logis (2020–2025) for USD 250,000. Nearby, on Avenue Winston Churchill, Leiko Ikemura’s bronze sculpture of a rabbit-human hybrid Usagi Greeting (440) (2025) was sold by Lisson Gallery for just over USD 925,000. ‘We’re delighted with the success of this year’s fair,’ said Lisson CEO Alex Logsdail. ‘The city continues to be an inspiring place for us to build new relationships, reconnect with longtime supporters, and share the breadth of our artists’ work with an engaged international audience.’

With sustained buying across sectors, institutional engagement, and a steady balance between global reach and local strength, Art Basel Paris confirmed its role as both a marketplace and a meeting point for cultural exchange.