Art Basel Paris Expands at the Grand Palais as Karim Crippa Takes Over
Art Basel Paris will return to the Grand Palais this fall with more than 200 exhibitors from 41 countries and territories, opening a fifth edition that also marks the first under director Karim Crippa. The fair is scheduled for October 23–25, 2026, with preview days on October 21–22, and it arrives with a larger main section, more collaborative booths, and a market backdrop that remains unusually favorable for Paris.
The most visible change is in Galeries, the fair’s central section, which has grown to more than 180 exhibitors from 177 last year. Art Basel says the 2026 edition will include a record 12 joint booths, the highest number in the fair’s history. Nearly 30 galleries are participating for the first time, while more than 60 exhibitors now operate spaces in France, a sign of how deeply the fair has become embedded in the city’s commercial ecosystem.
Among the returning French galleries are Mennour, Galerie Chantal Crousel, Galerie Lelong, Perrotin, Almine Rech, Crèvecœur, mor charpentier, galerie frank elbaz, and Galerie Christophe Gaillard. International heavyweights including Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner, White Cube, Thaddaeus Ropac, Marian Goodman Gallery, Pace Gallery, Gladstone Gallery, kurimanzutto, Mendes Wood DM, and Goodman Gallery are also back. New exhibitors include Berlin’s ChertLüdde and Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler, Hong Kong’s Empty Gallery, Paris-based Isabella Ritter, London’s Luxembourg + Co. and New York’s Olney Gleason and Pace Di Donna Schrader Galleries.
The fair’s structure remains intact, but its internal movement is telling. Petrine and The Pill have moved up from Emergence into Galeries, while several galleries from last year — including 47 Canal, The Approach, Air de Paris, Blindspot Gallery, Ginny on Frederick, Château Shatto, Gordon Robichaux, and Stars — are absent from the 2026 lineup.
Outside the booth model, Art Basel Paris is continuing to test new formats. Oh La La!, the rehang initiative introduced in earlier editions, returns on October 23–24 with a collaborator from outside the art world still to be announced. The invitation-only Avant-Première program will return for a second edition on October 20.
Emergence, the section for younger galleries and solo presentations, will again feature 16 booths, with 12 first-time participants, including Lo Brutto Stahl, Mariposa, Green Art Gallery, Brunette Coleman, and Schiefe Zähne. Premise will continue its research-led approach with projects centered on Robert Indiana and Ellsworth Kelly, Derek Jarman, Vera Molnár, Tarsila do Amaral, and Farid Belkahia.
Crippa said the fair has become “deeply embedded in the French cultural landscape” and now feels woven into Paris’s “intellectual life and cultural rhythm.” The timing is notable: according to the Art Basel & UBS Global Art Market Report 2026, sales in France reached $4.5 billion in 2025, a 9 percent increase year over year. As Paris strengthens its position, Art Basel Paris is no longer simply a seasonal arrival. It is becoming part of the city’s permanent art infrastructure.
