Art Basel Paris opened its “Avant Première” at the Grand Palais on October 21st, offering an exclusive early preview for a select number of guests ahead of the fair’s more expansive VIP days on October 22nd and 23rd. During this day of early access, the fair kicked off with brisk sales, led by Hauser & Wirth’s sale of Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting) (1987) for $23 million.
Art Basel Paris, running through October 26th, features 203 galleries. The “Avant Première” day is a new addition to the fair’s typical schedule. “This is for the market, by the market,” said Art Basel CEO Noah Horowitz of the preview in an interview with the Baer Faxt last week.
“Art Basel’s ‘Avant Première’ proved itself today to be a very smart idea that delivered on all fronts,” said Iwan Wirth, co-founder of Hauser & Wirth. “When you put great art in front of great people, magic happens on the spot. We just sold our crown jewel—an exceptional 1987 painting by Gerhard Richter—on our stand.”
The Richter sale coincides with the artist’s massive retrospective at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and a solo show at David Zwirner’s location in the French capital.
Here, we round up some of the leading initial sales reported by galleries at Art Basel Paris. Check back on Monday for our full sales report.
- In addition to the Richter, Hauser & Wirth’s top reported sales included Lucio Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Attese (1964–65) for €3.5 million ($4.06 million) and George Condo’s Femme de Monaco (2025) for $1.85 million.
- Pace Gallery’s sales were led by Amedeo Modigliani’s Jeune fille aux macarons (Young Woman with Hair in Side Buns) (1918) for just under $10 million. Other notable sales include Agnes Martin’s Children’s Playing (1999) for $4.5 million, Lee Ufan’s Response (2025) for $900,000, and Emily Kam Kngwarrey’s Alatji – Wild Yam (1992) for $550,000.
- Thaddaeus Ropac’s reported sales were led by Alberto Burri’s Sacco e oro (1953) for €4.2 million ($4.8 million). The gallery also reported sales of Georg Baselitz’s Cowboy (2024), Geste Winken (1995), and Noch Mützen trug man (2024) for €3.5 million ($4.06 million), €1.2 million ($1.3 million), and €1 million ($1.16 million), respectively.
- Perrotin’s reported sales were led by a work by Takashi Murakami for $550,000 and a gouache by Pierre Soulages for €400,000 ($464,000). The gallery also reported selling eight works by Maurizio Cattelan, each priced between €150,000 and €180,000 ($174,000 and $208,900).
- P.P.O.W reported sales of works by Kyle Dunn, Hilary Harkness, Dinh Q. Lê, and Carolee Schneemann for a combined total above $700,000.
