This weekend we experienced Paris Art Week and visited Art Basel Paris , one of the most anticipated contemporary art fairs of the year, hosted in the evocative setting of the Grand Palais Éphémère .
A vibrant, cosmopolitan, and refined atmosphere, where 20th-century masters and protagonists of contemporary art meet.
The following observations represent our entirely subjective impressions of what struck us most during the visit.

Katz and Rauschenberg welcome visitors

Upon entering, the Gladstone Gallery booth welcomes visitors with a refined face by Alex Katz —an elegant and instantly recognizable presence.
Behind him, a 1980s collage on paper by Robert Rauschenberg masterfully introduces the fair's atmosphere, a balance between gesture and conceptuality.

The Great Masters: Modigliani, Picasso, and Schneider

Continuing along the route, an Amedeo Modigliani stands out at the PACE Gallery , among the most photographed works of the entire event.

A majestic Günther Förg dominates the external wall of the Galerie Lelong , further on a smaller panel proposed by the Max Hetzler Gallery .

Alla Thaddaeus Ropac, la scena è catturata da una monumentale opera di Robert Rauschenberg dedicata a Napoleone Bonaparte.

Lo stand della Nahmad Gallery offre invece un’esperienza quasi museale: una personale dedicata a Picasso, con opere che spaziano dagli anni Dieci agli anni Sessanta, in un racconto completo della sua evoluzione.

Poco più avanti, Applicat-Prazan propone una raffinata selezione di lavori di Gérard Schneider, potenti e gestuali, datati tra gli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta.

Dialoghi Contemporanei: Basquiat, Meese, Bleckner

Una sorpresa entusiasmante arriva con l’inedito Basquiat esposto da Van de Weghe, tra i punti più affollati della fiera.

Non manca Jonathan Meese, con un lavoro su tela del 2025 nello stand della Tim Van Laere Gallery, sempre energico e provocatorio nella sua estetica.

Alla Captain Petzel Gallery, una grande tela 150x150 cm di Ross Bleckner dal ciclo “Sunset” illumina la parete centrale, con la sua pittura luminosa e meditativa.
Poco distante, all’esterno dello stand della Galleria Alfonso Artiaco, un delicato acquerello di Sol Lewitt introduce un momento di silenzio e ordine formale.

Sculture e Strutture: da Sol Lewitt a Markus Lüpertz

Due intensi dipinti su tela di Markus Lüpertz accolgono i visitatori nello stand della Michael Werner Gallery, mentre Almine Rech espone un busto dello stesso artista, essenziale e potente.

Tra le sculture più significative, spicca la “Wall Piece (Modular Structure)” di Sol Lewitt del 1976, proposta dalla Paula Cooper Gallery: un esempio di rigore concettuale e chiarezza geometrica che non passa inosservato.

Materiali e linguaggi: Pierson e Iannone

Tra le opere più iconiche, impossibile non notare le composizioni di Jack Pierson con lettere recuperate in legno e metallo, esposte da Regen Projects e Lisson Gallery, ironiche e poetiche al tempo stesso.

Also very interesting is the proposal from the Air de Paris gallery , which presents a series of mixed techniques on paper by Dorothy Iannone : works from the Sixties, belonging to her abstract expressionist phase, before she arrived at the figurative-erotic language that would make the artist as famous as she was controversial.

Americans of the Sixties

Yares Art offers a true journey into the heart of American painting of the 1960s.

From the rigorous geometries of Frank Stella to the expanded color of the protagonists of Color Field Painting – Jules Olitski , Kenneth Noland , Larry Poons , Morris Louis , Gene Davis – up to the sculptures of the British Anthony Caro , the stand stands out as one of the most coherent and museum-like of the entire fair.

The Italian Presences

The great Italian names could not be missing: Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, Enrico Castellani, Alighiero Boetti, Mimmo Rotella, Valerio Adami, Mimmo Paladino, Giulio Paolini and Emilio Tadini, present above all in the major Italian labels.

Among the most notable presences in international contexts, Salvatore Emblema with a raw canvas from the Seventies at the White Cube , installed along the main corridor of the fair – a work that, in its simplicity, captured the attention of visitors – and Giorgio Griffa , with a large work from the Seventies at Massimo De Carlo and a canvas from the Nineties at the American gallery Casey Kaplan .

Conclusions

Art Basel Paris confirms itself as an essential event for lovers of modern and contemporary art.
An experience that, beyond trends and names, conveys the image of a living art, in constant dialogue between past and present.

These, of course, are only our entirely subjective impressions, matured over a weekend of works, meetings and visual suggestions, in the splendid setting of the Grand Palais Éphémère, the beating heart of the Parisian art scene, experienced and described by 091 Art Project .