Paris Was Burning and Art Basel Took the Heat

 

Art Basel Paris, Collector's preview, October 21st, image Coco Dolle, 2026
 

By COCO DOLLE, October 29, 2026

Paris Art Week took an unexpected turn as student protests escalated, disrupting the art scene and forcing the main fair to close two days ahead of schedule. Arriving early in the week, I was able to attend most of my preferred itinerary and programs, including Art Basel, but these two shortened days had greater consequences for some than for others. And who usually pays the price, if not, as it parallels the current situation, the younger and underrepresented voices?

Indeed, established blue-chip galleries left with a reported $147 million in sales happening early during the week. So it seems they're OK. A Willem de Kooning sold for over $10 million at Gagosian while a piece by Gerhard Richter sold for $10 million at Hauser & Wirth.

A flurry of articles and reviews highlight these wins, though few acknowledge the more personal and human implications that younger and mid-size galleries undertake over their mega art fair ventures.

School Girl Ko2 by Takashi Murakami at Perrotin, Art Basel's First Choice, image Coco Dolle, 2026

"Things had been going very well during the first days of the fair", mentioned Catinca Tabacaru during a conversation, whose eponymous gallery was included for the first time on the upper floor of the Grand Palais in the Galleries section of Art Basel Paris after a prior participation in the Emergence section two years ago.

"We had worked on this booth for months", she continues, "the project itself, we've been developing for years. We presented an overlooked relationship between Eastern Europe and Africa from the 1960s to today, with unseen 1970s Zimbabwean Modernist sculptures alongside evocative sculptures by a 26-year-old Romanian artist. We brought this concept to Paris and entered into dialogue with some of the most influential voices in the art world, but alas..."

 

Catinca Tabacaru Gallery booth, Art Basel Paris, image courtesy of CTG, 2026

 

While she stands in solidarity with the protests, she continued and sighed: "All that might have happened over the weekend remained unfulfilled: the sales of younger, lesser-known artists to pure art lovers who didn’t care for the First Choice scene; the leisurely conversations with curators who had all weekend to take it in; the reactions of kids, whose perspectives I always love, as their parents look on amused; and the perpetual bargain hunters who still consider the last hours of the fair the best time to make a deal … and it is! Shipping back is expensive! I love those Sunday sales: instinctual, reckless, fun! So I did cry myself a pity party Friday with midnight escargot and several glasses of wine over the closure.” 

 

On the main floor where First Choice galleries prevail, astute connoisseurs felt unimpressed and dubious. “There was a certain comfort in the familiar, a sense of déjà vu, where the parade of blue-chip names and monumental works offered diminishing returns in terms of discovery”, mentions art advisor Eve Therond over an email response to my asking her impressions.

 

Tour Turbulente (1973) by Jean Dubuffet at Gladstone Gallery, Art Basel Paris, image Coco Dolle, 2026

“In a cautious climate, perhaps reassurance has become the product”, she continues. “I should have spent more time upstairs, where the risk-taking and arguably, the more interesting conversations were waiting at the booths of Cécile Fakhoury, 47 Canal or P21 Korea. The irony is that a fair ostensibly designed to reflect the vitality of contemporary art can end up privileging what the market already knows how to value. It’s one of its paradoxes: the established names command our attention. At a time of global unrest, when the younger generation is searching for ways to make its voice heard, perhaps we should be looking closely at galleries giving it a platform. The next significant voices may be among those still asking us to look and think differently.” 

 

LOVE Wall (1996-2006), by Robert Indiana, presented by Almine Rech on Place Clemenceau by the Champs-Elysées, image Coco Dolle, 2026

As for many New Yorkers and fellow art professionals who were planning to attend but canceled their flight upon watching Paris burning over the news, following is my humble visual diary on selected events and locations, from MaSH, Christie's, Design Miami, OFFSCREEN Paris, Pinault Collection and Aaahhh!!! Paris Internationale.

And to reassure you, Paris is no longer burning even though France is facing tremendous social and political turmoil, it is still mesmerizing and beautiful.

In the end, we, the citizens and our students will take the hit. Since the late 1960s, French students have repeatedly taken to the streets to protest overcrowded classrooms and government authority, though this time, looting and riots didn't come from the classrooms.

Public schools lack proper funding and teachers. We are facing a wall of unanswered questions. I feel for my country... and the new generation. With the presidential election coming up in spring 2027, political parties are pointing fingers left and right. It's a big mess.

This is France: the country of endless debates, disobedience, and the constant rethinking of human existance and ideologies.

A true je ne sais quoi...

 

Day 1 | Monday:  Matignon Saint-Honoré, Christie's and White Cube

Girls on the Seashore by Renoir, Christie's Paris, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Christie's Paris opening event, the Durand-Ruel Collections, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Le Retour des terre-neuvas (Saint-Malo) 1928 by Paul Signac, Christie's Paris, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Various Modern Paintings from the Durand-Ruel Collections, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Fernando Botero and various Nabis artworks from Marlene & Spencer Hays Collections, Christie's Paris, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Ode to Love by Jeff Koons, Christie's Paris, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

I will miss you Yesterday I will miss you Today ... by Tracey Emin, White Cube Paris, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Day 2 | Tuesday: Design Miami

Arabesque by Pierre Renart, Maison Parisienne, Design Miami at L'Hôtel de Maisons, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

 Backyard of L'Hôtel de Maisons, Design Miami, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Jean Prouvé, Maison Démontable 1944, Galerie Patrick Seguin, Design Miami, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Inside Design Miami, in the former private home of Karl Lagerfeld, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Various Ceramics, Design Miami Paris, image Coco Dolle, 2026 

 

Murano Glass Chandelier, Design Miami Paris, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Day 3 | Wednesday: Art Basel VIP opening

Andrew Edlin Gallery, Art Basel Paris, image Coco Dolle

 

Untitled by Henry Darger (or Children holding adults hostage), Andrew Edlin Gallery, close-up image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Louis Vuitton's Keith Haring Artycapucines bag collection ($8,000), Louis Vuitton booth, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Sylvie Fleury and Jenny Holzer, Sprüth Magers booth, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Louise Bourgeois's Personage Series, Hauser & Wirth booth, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Painter Transfigured by Celia Paul, Gladstone Gallery, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Day 4 | Thursday: OFFSCREEN, Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière

Valentina Furian presented by UNA, OFFSCREEN, image Coco Dolle, 2026 

 

Livia Melzi, presented by Philippe Zagouri, Galerie Salon H, OFFSCREEN, image Coco Dolle, 2026 

 

Ana Mendieta presented by Marian Goodman, OFFSCREEN, image Coco Dolle, 2026 

 

Laurent Millet presented by Galerie Binome, OFFSCREEN, image Coco Dolle, 2026 

 

 Day 5 | Friday: Art Basel Conversation, Aaahhh!!! Paris Internationale & Pinault Collection / Bourse du Commerce

Conversation with Centre Pompidou's President Laurent Le Bon and journalist Claire Chazal, Grand Palais, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Deborah Schamoni Galerie Germany, Aaahhh!!! Paris Internationale, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Keiji Ito, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Aaahhh!!! Paris Internationale, image Coco Dolle, 2026

The History of Tears, Barbara Kruger, Pinault Collection, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

Pinault Collection, Bourse du Commerce, image Coco Dolle, 2026

 

The World According to Irving Penn, Pinault Collection, image Coco Dolle, 2026