Art Basel Paris 2025

Not directly, of course. But for a few days each year, the city becomes entirely about art. Entirely about exhibitions, events, and performances that are unfolding all across Paris. And at its heart stands the Grand Palais, bringing together over two hundred exhibitors from forty different countries under one roof. And for everyone who wants to dive into this year’s creative buzz, we’ve selected five highlights you shouldn’t miss: from high-luxury, limited-edition handbags to boxes on the floor. From vast dystopian landscapes to ink and oil on canvas. From Harry Nuriev, the mind behind Balenciaga collabs and Crosby Studios, to Turner Prize-winning artist Helen Marten. But best of all, just go and see for yourself.

There is a hypnotising collaboration you can’t miss at the Grand Palais: the Louis Vuitton Artycapucines VII collection by Takashi Murakami. Here, the Japanese contemporary artist has taken the Capucines bag and reimagined it in eleven whimsical, colourful, and playful designs, creating imaginative, hallucinatory, and highly collectible works of art. One, for example, is embroidered with a hundred of Murakami’s tiny mushroom characters. Another features sculptural tentacles inspired by Mr. DOB, Murakami’s alter ego — a round-faced figure with sharp teeth that echoes Mickey Mouse and serves as a witty critique of Western consumer culture. Other bags include dragons, flowers, rainbows and, of course, the classic LV emblem. 

The surreal partnership between French craftsmanship and superflat fantasy is presented alongside an eight-metre-long octopus sculpture at the Grand Palais. Together, they show how fashion and art can continue to evolve hand in hand. Fun fact, if you didn’t know: Louis Vuitton and Murakami have been collaborating for nearly two decades now. And we still never get tired of it.

Looking at art for hours without a break can be overstimulating. Even for the biggest culture enthusiasts (don’t try to hide it). That’s exactly why, from time to time, we need something that disrupts that overstimulation. Something simple yet genius. Something interactive. Something that makes you move. That makes you smile a bit. And that something is Objets Trouvé by Harry Nuriev, a participatory installation at the Petits-Augustins chapel, part of the prestigious French grand école Beaux-Arts de Paris. 

Here, the Russian-born artist and designer presents carefully aligned boxes filled with seemingly random everyday objects. And the fun part: every visitor can bring an item they no longer need and, in return, take another left by someone else. The installation becomes a space of transformism, circulation, and exchange, reinventing daily materials and giving them new meaning, stories, and functions. It’s a social interaction between guests that creates connection, community; a collective experience. And don’t worry, nothing will get lost. Because after Art Basel Paris, the objects will be compiled into a Yellow-Pages-style directory. A permanent archive, if you will.

Every big event needs a big partner. And this year, for the second time, that partner is Miu Miu. To be precise, Miu Miu is the Art Basel Paris Public Programme Official Partner 2025. And with that honourable title, the Italian luxury House under the direction of Miuccia Prada presents 30 Blizzards, a sequenced live performance by British Turner Prize-winning artist Helen Marten. 

The performance combines sculpture, video, libretto, and movement into a single multidisciplinary experience, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in the complex, poetic landscape of human identity. To immerse themselves in time, language, structure and transformation. It is the artist’s first ever performance, making 30 Blizzards one of the most captivating program highlights this year. Considering that Marten’s work is part of prominent collections like the Tate, MoMA, and the Guggenheim Museum, she is an inspired choice. The location, by the way, is the Palais d’Iéna, headquarters of France’s Economic, Social, and Environmental Council.

After admiring Takashi Murakami’s Louis Vuitton bags, you should stop by Sultana’s booth in the Salon d’Honneur. Because let me tell you, the artists being presented here are true masters of their fields. Take Louis Le Kim, for example, a French painter who creates atmospheric, dystopian landscapes: vast plains and fading mountains paired with deserted brutalist spaces and a precise handling of light. Or Jesse Darling, the British sculptor, installation artist and writer based between the UK and Berlin, known for challenging conventional perceptions of social structures and identity. Jean Claracq, on the other hand, is celebrated for his miniature-scale, hyper-detailed paintings that explore themes of loneliness, digital identity and youth culture in the age of social media. And of course, there are more artists in the booth worth your attention — Harry Nuriev, for instance.

Another gallery you definitely shouldn’t miss is Pilar Corrias. For those who don’t know this London-based gallery, it represents an impressive range of emerging and established artists, two-thirds of whom are women (something we shouldn’t take for granted!). So, at Booth 0.B50 in the Grand Palais, Pilar Corrias presents works by Ragna Bley, Rachel Rose, Vivien Zhang, Sholto Blissett, Kat Lyons and many others. 

A particular highlight is the work of New York-born artist Tschabalala Self, known for her mixed-media paintings and sculptures that explore Black identity and femininity. During the fair, she unveils her new collage-like piece Bayou Bather, made from fabric, thread, painted canvas, coloured pencil, acrylic, oil and ink. Another captivating artist to discover here is Philippe Parreno, who presents The Crawler (2024), an installation combining blown glass, concrete, LED, metal, sensors and motors into an abstract, technological yet organic work that feels almost alive. So, my advice: stop by, take your time, and get inspired.