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# Art Basel Paris sold nearly 130 million euros of art before closing early
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/iarmarka-art-basel-paris-uspela-prodat-proizvedeniia-pochti-na-130-millionov-evro-prezhde-chem-dosrochno-zakrylas-iz-za-protestov-vo-frantsii/
- Published: 2026-10-24T11:07:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T11:20:17.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Society, Paris, Reportage

The Art Basel Paris fair managed to sell works worth almost 130 million euros before closing early because of the protests in France.

This year the fair is held at the Grand Palais for the third time, and in Paris for the fifth time in all. The first two days are given over to the preview, that is, the VIP days, when only invited collectors, museum staff and curators are admitted, although, to judge by the feel of the place, once again everyone who wanted to get in got in.

According to the fair, over these two days the galleries sold more than 300 works for slightly less than 130 million euros. Among the weightiest sales: two paintings by Julie Mehretu at 7 million each, while the Pace gallery sold a painting by Jean Dubuffet for more than 4.5 million. The Hauser & Wirth gallery sold paintings by Gerhard Richter and Georg Baselitz for roughly 8.8 million each. The Gladstone gallery sold a painting by Victor Man for 1.1 million, a painting by Cecily Brown for 1.3 million and a watercolour by Elizabeth Peyton for 310 thousand. The Gagosian gallery found buyers for a late canvas by Willem de Kooning for a sum above 8.8 million and for a three-metre bronze sculpture by Jeff Koons in the form of wine corks, which was valued at 3.8 million.

The greatest risks were taken by the galleries that brought museum-quality works. The Acquavella gallery, for instance, put up a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter by Pablo Picasso for 40 million euros. The Pace Di Donna Schrader gallery showed the most expensive work of the fair, the 1917 painting “Reclining Nude (Lolotte)” by Amedeo Modigliani, for which more than 88 million euros was being asked. By the close of the fair this painting had not been sold.

Everyone remembers that the previous weekend Paris saw riots and looting, and something similar is expected this weekend, so the fair announced that it would close on Friday at 19:00 and would not open on Saturday and Sunday. The organisers explained the decision by concern for the safety of visitors, participants, staff and the works. Anyone who wanted to buy something serious has surely already done their deals, or at the very least discussed them with the galleries: around 80% of sales are made by galleries precisely in the first two days of the fair. Even so, on Friday Hauser & Wirth took the Richter and Baselitz paintings off its stand and hung in their place three more modest works by the Paris-based artist Hélène Delprat.

True, the weekends matter to the fair, because that is when the general public comes, and a standard ticket this year cost 47 euros. The 73 thousand visitors of last year show what a serious part of the fair's budget is made up of public interest. But safety will not ensure itself.

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