In this article (7 sections)
Art Basel Paris was meant to run its public days from 23 to 25 October at the Grand Palais. It closed at 7 pm on the Friday instead. This piece sets the fair next to the full-year European figures, with the source named each time, and asks what both mean if you are an emerging painter. For the US side, see our October US market piece.
Europe in 2025: France up, Germany down
The Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report 2026 covers last year. According to the report, France sold $4.5 billion in 2025, up 9%, for 8% of the global market by value. That makes it the fourth-largest market in the world and the largest in the EU. Germany fell 10% and Italy 2%, while Spain rose 6% and Switzerland and Austria each rose 13%. The EU as a whole reached an estimated $8.4 billion, up 3%. The UK, outside the EU, was at $10.5 billion, up 2%.
The same report has two lines that matter more to a painter than the country totals. Sales below $50,000 declined, with both value and volume down 2%. And mid-size dealers took 36% of fair sales in 2025, up from 29% in 2024. Smaller sales were softer, and more of the fair business went to the middle of the gallery world, not to the largest names.
For a view of how this looked a year earlier, see our UK and Europe art trends from August 2025.
Art Basel Paris: strong at the top, cut short
Paris has long been a city of collectors. In 1878 Renoir painted Marguerite Charpentier with her children in the Japanese-style sitting room of her Paris townhouse, and the Met holds the painting today. This autumn’s collectors came to a fair of 211 galleries from 41 countries and about 1,700 works, according to Il Sole 24 Ore.
The money was made early. Il Sole reports 200 to 300 transactions on the preview days, worth about €100 million, including around 25 works priced above €1 million. The Art Newspaper reported Gerhard Richter’s Rococo Table (1965) selling for $10.5 million with Hauser & Wirth, and Julie Mehretu’s Rise of the New Suprematists (2001) tagged at $7.8 million with White Cube. These are gallery-reported figures, and the first thing to know about a fair is that its numbers come from the sellers.
Then the street intruded. According to The Art Newspaper, mass demonstrations across France over the cost of living and school conditions turned violent the weekend before the fair, with riots and looting, and further protests were planned for the weekend of the fair. Art Basel cancelled the public days and said it could not welcome visitors that weekend. Il Sole adds that the early closure hurt smaller galleries and that some American guests cancelled.
The headline names were mostly painters, which is worth noticing. The Art Newspaper’s opening-days report has Pilar Corrias selling nearly all of its Christina Quarles solo show, including a 2026 painting to a museum in the American Midwest (the price was not disclosed), and Almine Rech selling a 2023 painting by Ha Chong-Hyun for $390,000. It also lists what had not sold by the second day: a small Turner watercolour priced at $380,000 on Gladstone’s stand, and a Taryn Simon work at Almine Rech. Even in a strong week, a price is only a claim until a buyer agrees to it.
How to read these numbers
There are two kinds of number in this piece, and they answer different questions. The fair figures come from galleries, cover a few days and favour the top of the market. The Art Basel and UBS figures cover the whole of 2025 across many more sellers. The first tells you the mood of a week. The second tells you the direction of a year, and the year was mixed: growth in France, Spain, Switzerland and Austria, a fall in Germany and Italy, and softer sales under $50,000.
Where emerging painters sat
Degas, who was born and died in Paris, painted The Dancing Class around 1870. The Met notes that he lacked privileges to go backstage at the Opéra, so his dancers posed in his studio.
At the fair, the prices for younger artists sat well below the headlines. Il Sole reports that Lorenza Longhi’s solo presentation with Oskar Weiss, in the Emergence section, sold out at €5,000 to €25,000, and that Beatrice Bonino sold well with Ermes Ermes at €5,000 to €8,000. The Art Newspaper noted that the Premise section, with twelve exhibitors, was tucked to one side and had lower footfall, and that Arthur Ruiz Piza’s works with Raquel Arnaud were mostly under €15,000.
The mood around the middle was more cautious. Il Sole quotes the art economist Clare McAndrew, author of the Art Basel and UBS report, on the mid-market being the most exposed to rising living costs: buyers may delay purchases or choose cheaper works, while galleries face higher transport and fair costs. The adviser Sacha Zerbib told the paper that experimental, conceptual and young artists “remained on the fringes”, and summed up the fair as serious artists and safe choices. The gallerist Raffaella Cortese described her results as positive, with sales from €14,000 to €130,000.
These are gallery prices at a fair. If you sell on your own, our guide to where to sell your paintings in 2026 sets out the other routes.
Why the early closure matters beyond one weekend
A cancelled weekend is not just a lost weekend for a gallery. Il Sole reports that sellers face higher transport and fair costs, and that the early closure hurt the smaller galleries. A fair spokesperson said it was too early to comment on any financial or contractual implications, in answer to the question of compensation. Some dealers hope for discounts at the June edition, and the paper adds that weaker galleries could face closure.
For a painter, this is background on the galleries that might one day represent you: the cost of taking part in fairs is rising, and sales below $50,000 are softer.
What to watch next
Art Basel Miami Beach runs from 4 to 6 December. For the wider picture across the three regions, see our UK, US and Europe market overview.
References
Art Basel and UBS, “The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2026” (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, EU and UK figures; sales under $50,000; mid-size dealers’ fair share): https://www.artbasel.com/stories/the-art-basel-and-ubs-global-art-market-report-2026
The Art Newspaper, “Riots do not deter big-ticket sales at Art Basel Paris”, 21 October 2026: https://theartnewspaper.com/2026/10/21/riots-do-not-deter-big-ticket-sales-at-art-basel-paris
The Art Newspaper, “Art Basel Paris closes early due to protests”, 22 October 2026: https://theartnewspaper.com/2026/10/22/art-basel-paris-closes-early-due-to-protests
Il Sole 24 Ore, “Art Basel Paris closes early on a positive note”, 24 October 2026: https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/art-basel-paris-closes-early-on-a-positive-note-the-big-names-remain-a-question-mark-whilst-the-mid-market-segment-is-uncertain-AJ70IatB
Finestre sull’Arte, “Art Basel Paris is closing two days early to avoid issues related to Saturday’s protests”, 22 October 2026: https://www.finestresullarte.info/en/news/art-basel-paris-is-closing-two-days-early-to-avoid-issues-related-to-saturday-s-protests
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, collection records 07.122 (Renoir) and 29.100.184 (Degas): https://www.metmuseum.org/en/art/collection/search/438815 and https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436141
Made with love by artists, for artists 🫶🏼
info@priceyourpainting.com | www.priceyourpainting.com | Instagram
Comment on Substack
