EUROPE – Almost 100,000 art lovers, private collectors and institutional buyers were ready to admire – and acquire – works by modern and contemporary artists, including Picasso and Chagall, at Art Basel’s most recent edition in Switzerland.
The trade fair’s 46th edition, which closed on 21 June, showcased 284 galleries from 33 countries, including 14 first-time exhibitors.
Renowned for its celebrity-studded gala events, the fair has three annual editions in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong.
Organiser MCH Group said galleries reported strong sales at all levels of the market during Basel's six-day event.
Buyers included representatives from New York’s Guggenheim Museum, the Tate in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Singapore.
Iwan Wirth, president of gallery Hauser & Wirth said business had been brisk and constant.
“We are proud to have place more works in museum collects than ever before in our history at the fair, including a significant piece by Mike Kelley,” Wirth said.
Meanwhile, Thaddaeus Ropac, founder and director of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris said his gallery saved important works for the fair, including pieces by Robert Rauschenberg.
“We placed works with museums and important collections in Germany and France,” Ropac said. “The attendance of major museum directors and curators was enormous, and they travelled with their trustees, which meant they were able to make quick decisions. Only Art Basel is able to attract this kind of seriousness.”
Regular visitors to the Basel show would have noticed a revamped floorplan in Hall 2, described by one exhibitor as creating a “new energy”.
The biggest change to fair’s format in the past decade brought together galleries showcasing work from 1900 to 1970, to create a stronger focus on historical material including works by Max Beckmann, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Georg Grosz, Yves Klein, Rene Magritte, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and Egon Schiele.
Other highlights included a collaborative installation, Do we dream under the same sky, at Basel’s Messeplatz, presentations by emerging artists, a conversations and salon programme, as well as global design forum Design Basel.
The next Art Basel will be held in Miami Beach on 3-6 December, 2015.
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