Art Paris returns for its 27th edition this April. The leading event for modern and contemporary art will host 170 exhibitors from 25 different countries. Visitors will be welcomed into the Grand Palais, its large glass dome an iconic part of the Parisian skyline. The structure was originally built in 1900 for the Exposition Universelle, which acknowledged the achievements of the past century and showcased technological innovations including the Ferris wheel and first ever passenger trolleybus. It is fitting, then, that Art Paris uses the location for its celebration of French art history and its promotion of new and emerging talent. The 2025 selection embodies the unique identity of Art Paris, a fair that is both regional and cosmopolitan – 60% of the exhibitors are from France, while the rest are made up of international galleries. It is an event that highlights the vibrancy and dynamism of Paris’ cultural landscape.
Regular exhibitors will return to the event, including Almine Rech, Galerie Lelong & Co and Loevenbruck. They bring pieces from some of the most iconic artists of the past century, such as Marcel DuChamp and William Klein, as well as those making a mark on contemporary art, including Chen Wei and Marina Abramovic. They span performance, photography, painting and installation. In one photograph, presented by Wilde Gallery, Abramovic is captured in an intimate moment, eyes closed and candle in hand. Elsewhere at the fair, Polka Galerie showcases Klein’s Dorothy Juggling with Light Balls, Paris (1962), which features an elegant woman haloed by a series of lights. These major galleries will be joined by 18 monographic shows, allowing visitors to discover or revisit modern, contemporary and emerging artists. The exhibiting artists include Lebanese painter Shafic Abboud and Costa Rican artist Luciano Goizueta, who investigates the intricate connections between memory, technology and the digital world. Also featured is multidisciplinary creative Naomi Hobson, who creates abstract compositions inspired by her ancestral lands in Australia.
A particular highlight of this year’s showcase is Immortal, a panoramic overview of French figurative art, featuring 30 artists from exhibiting galleries. To list the iconic French painters who laid the groundwork of contemporary artists is to name some of the biggest names in art history: Édouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot. Contemporary practitioners like Françoise Petrovitch, Robert Combas, Oda Jaune and Youcef Korichi keep this strop tradition alive. The curators showcase how figurative painting – at a time when “global art focuses on abstraction and new mediums” – perseveres as a dynamic movement.
Elsewhere, Out of Bounds explores contemporary art through the lens of multiethnicity and the hybridisation of forms and cultures. In a cosmopolitan city like Paris, whose population is made up of countless nationalities, religions and ethnicities, this exhibition feels particularly dynamic. The works on display address some of today’s most pressing questions, around origins, gender, kinship, history and geography. The selection of artists includes huge names like Joana Vasconcelos. In 2012, she became the first woman and youngest artist to have a major exhibition in the Palace of Versailles, drawing 1.6 million visitors and becoming the most visited art show in France in 50 years. Also featured is Chinese practitioner Zhao Zhao, who is renowned for exploring the concept of free will and Benin-based Ishola Akpo, whose photography blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality.
Paris Art 2025 brings audiences new themes, exhibitions and prizes, ensuring this edition is bigger and better than ever. Promises will bring together 25 galleries that have existed for 10 years or less, offering a unique platform for flourishing creatives. Over half of these are located outside of France, including in Belgium, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuwait and South Africa. Also introduced this year is the French Design Art Edition, focusing on design and the contemporary decorative arts and imagined in partnership with le French Design directors Jean-Paul Bath and Sandy Saad. The exhibition space hosts examples of contemporary interior design with both one-off pieces and limited series. Prizes awarded over the course of the fair will recognise the best and brightest of the art scene. The BNP Paribas Banque Privee Prize acknowledges the career of a living artist from the Immortal exhibition, whilst The Her Art Prize will celebrate the talents of women artists.
This year’s Art Paris is a reminder of why this is one of the biggest fairs in the art calendar. It promises is that this will be bigger and better than ever. There is something for everyone: iconic names, world-leading galleries, emerging talent and fascinating perspectives on established art. It is not to be missed.
Art Paris will run 3 – 6 April 2025: artparis.com
Image Credits:
Marina Abramovic, Artist Portrait with A Candle (A), 2012. Photographie, 160 x 160 cm, Wilde.
JR, Retour à la caverne – Acte I, 24 septembre 2023, 18h55, Palais Garnier, Paris, France, 2023, 2023. Photographie 123 x 183 x 4 cm, Galleria Continua.
William Klein, Dorothy Juggling with Light Balls, Paris, 1962. Photographie, 105 x 77 x 5 cm, Polka Galerie.
Decebal Scriba, Untitled, 2019, Photographie, Galerie Anne-Sarah Bénichou.
