Art Paris Brings a More Intimate, Grounded Energy to the Grand Palais

In front of the Grand Palais, two colossal Haribo-like inflatable silhouettes greeted visitors for gimmicky photo ops. The work by French artist Fabrice Hyber (represented by Nathalie Obadia) introduced a bit of frivolity to Art Paris, a relatively low-key French fair that appeals to local collectors. Beneath a beating spring sun through the historic glass nave, the vibe on the preview day was more a soothing burble than a fizzy buzz; nobody was wearing ostentatious attire. The 28th edition of the fair brought 160 galleries from some 20 countries, with 30 percent first-time participants. As usual, Art Paris provides a local spotlight of the Parisian, and more widely French, art scene, with few blue-chip galleries among the booths, barring Galerie Lelong and Almine Rech. Other powerhouses, despite having spaces nearby on Avenue Matignon, did not attend.

Almine Rech has been an Art Paris faithful for years. “It’s very important to show our commitment to local art,” senior director Thibault Geffrin told Observer. “We have a lot of artists based in Paris; we try to always include their works on our booth so they can see and promote their work.” A textile piece by French-Malagasy artist Joël Andrianomearisoa—nominated this year for the Prix Marcel Duchamp—was on the wall facing the entrance to the Grand Palais, while a portrait painting by Inès Longevial faced the passageway. The works in the booth ranged from €20,000-100,000; the €100,000 cap was intentional. “Art Basel Paris is a much more international crowd, and is a much bigger fair, so it’s two different presentations,” Geffrin explained, adding—and echoing many—that the flock here is French or more locally European, and the prices reflect that. On the preview morning, Oliver Beer’s 2026 framed pigment on canvas Résonance Painting (Swim Until You Can’t See Land) sold for £75,000-80,000; not long after, Andrianomearisoa’s 2025 metal and paint sculpture sold for €20,000-30,000.

According to Geffrin, “having two spaces in Paris, we see our collectors all year long, but it’s also part of an event that gathers everyone together”—all the more worthwhile since there is “time to spend with our collectors here that you might not have time to spend at Art Basel.”

“The market in Paris has changed a lot these last years,” reflected Garrett Landolt, director at Esther Schipper, at a booth down the aisle from Almine Rech. “It was, to begin with, quite a local market: Parisians buying in Parisian galleries. It’s become so international these last years with Art Basel coming. What we’ve heard from some is that Art Basel Paris has just become so prestigious that Art Paris suddenly is more accessible and maybe more interesting, because you have different price points. So you get a great diversity of visitors.” He remarked not only on the “quality of advisors and collectors” coming by, but also that visitors were curious about works on the booth and taking time to ask questions, in contrast to buyers rushing to get the works they want as at Art Basel.

The curiosity at the booth mostly centered on the work of French artist Etienne Chambaud (€10,000-€30,000), who explores animals (eagles, lambs) represented in religious icons bought at auction and transformed. Chambaud has a restorer stabilize the works, then covers all non-animal elements in gold leaf—including the saints—so that, as a result, the animals are completely isolated and foregrounded. In a different register nearby, Canadian-born New York-based Sojourner Truth Parsons’ canvases are colorfully layered in phosphorescent paints—her work is now on view at the gallery’s Parisian space, located in an interior courtyard within Place Vendôme. Everything on the booth was below €50,000, with German artist Matti Braun being the most expensive at €48,000. The gallery otherwise participates in all the Art Basel fairs, plus Art Jakarta, West Bund and Frieze Seoul.

Galerie Pol Lemétais was at Art Paris for the first time with a singular monographic exhibition of remixed tapestries by Aurélia Jaubert. Based in Toulouse in southwestern France, the gallery represents art brut artists and participates in Outsider Art Fair in New York and Outsider Art in Paris; Art Paris was a bit of a leap. Jaubert is an artist whose work gallery representative Aurelie Fourrier described as “related to contemporary art, but with a discrepancy,” given her unusual techniques, which remix and collage embroidery and textiles using found materials—vintage tapestries, sewing accessories—sourced from charity shops or garage sales. The six large works on the stand, made between 2020 and 2025, were priced between €13,000-25,000; nothing sold on the preview day, but a sale for €15,000 was made the next. A selection of Jaubert’s pieces are on view in Paris at the Halle Saint Pierre, in the 18th arrondissement, at a dedicated art brut space.

Beirut-based Saleh Barakat Gallery was back at Art Paris, having participated about half a dozen times. “Paris has that halo; it’s important to be present here,” the eponymous gallerist said. But Art Paris in particular is more “franco-français” and closer to the spirit of the gallery—”our artists are very engagé [politically committed]”—rather than “conceptual art, global art.” Barakat added that Art Paris completes the “rendezvous in the fall” with a spring counterpart. (The Lebanese gallery had participated in Art Basel Paris and Doha, Art Dubai and Abu Dhabi Art.) In the booth, there were ceramics by Hala Matta, custom rugs by Sara Badr Schmidt and a gorgeous, vivid canvas by Nabil Nahas. The pieces ranged from €800 for small formats (“We’re not pretentious,” Barakat noted), with everything else marked from €2,000 and capping around €10,000.

One level up, Galerie Prima—which has been open for a year and a half—is displaying work by two painters: Bryce Delplanque (still lifes priced at €6,000-€9,000) and Gaspard Girard d'Albissin (figurative works inspired by online images and fashion editorials priced at €3,500-10,000). They are part of the Promises sector on the upper balcony on the south side of the Grand Palais, dedicated to galleries established less than a decade ago and selected by curator Marc Donnadieu, who is also a member of the Art Paris selection committee. Here, there are spaces more widely international than downstairs, with examples from Australia, Morocco and Singapore.

It’s Prima’s second time at the fair; the gallery sold out Delplanque’s paintings and achieved new visibility for Héloïse Rival’s ceramic murals in 2025. The other fairs they have participated in include the Invited section at Art Brussels and Asia Now in Paris, though they are intrigued by Paris Internationale and Artissima. The founding duo spent over a decade at French gallery Filles du Calvaire, which participated in Art Paris for several editions with successful results (and had a booth again this year), solidifying their next-generation interest. Co-founder Laëtitia Ferrer told Observer that she and her associate have “a taste in particular for figuration, but one that always provokes questions… something a little bizarre, but also semantic.” Two works by d’Albissin were pre-sold before the fair (for €4,500 and €6,000), while Delplanque was showing a new series: an homage to author Joan Didion’s personal belongings sold at auction, including stacks of books written by William F. Buckley Jr. and the Houston Junior League Cookbook.

As with any fair, this one caters to a wide range of tastes. Works by the artists featured in blockbuster exhibitions right next door were glimpsed at here: there are two Nan Goldin Cibachromes from 2000 and 2013 at Yvon Lambert and a 2009 rhinestoned work by Mickalene Thomas (Keri On, 2009) at Opera gallery. There is also a stunt-y oversized raw iron teapot by Joana Vasconcelos that visitors clamor to sit in at Gowen Contemporary and a bone-chilling oil portrait of Elon Musk at Galerie Idéale by Stéphane Pencréac'h. It takes all kinds.

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