It is undoubtedly the most waited 2022 contemporary art fair, despite some defections by critics, journalists and other art operators due to the almost overlap with the London-based Frieze Art Fair.
However why are there so many expectations?
The answer is very easy: after 48 years, the Swiss art fair giant, father of three important appointments in the art market, has supplanted the hosts of FIAC, the traditional Parisian art market exhibition.
Thus the 156 international art galleries met from the 20th to the 23rd of October in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, inside the Grand Palais Éphémère.

A tent structure that replaces the real Grand Palais closed for restoration. The feeling of wanting to be the first to visit Paris + par Art Basel, this is the name of the appointment, has undoubtedly played its part, given the very high number of visitors even on the opening day dedicated exclusively to vip guests. It goes without saying that the exhibition space itself is a bit under-sized and many galleries have opted for a presentation of as many artists as possible without a particular and refined curatorial background.
We will therefore have to wait until Sunday to understand if this success in terms of public will turn into real sales. As often happens, there are many artists displayed who currently have retrospectives in important European cultural institutions. For example, the German gallery NEUGERRIEMSCHNEIDER has presented, among others, Tomàs Saraceno that is displayed until the beginning of 2023 at the Florentine Palazzo Strozzi.

Kamel Mennour, on the other hand, has opted for a stand divided into two areas with a piece also by Alberto Giacometti and Jean Dubuffet. There have been many compliments for the Italian Massimo De Carlo gallery thanks to artworks by Carla Accardi, Nate Lowman, Ferrari Sheppard, Yang-Pei Ming and Piotr Uklanski. Italy is also present in the project that involves the entire French capital, called "Sites": many sculptures have benne positioned in symbolic places of the city, such as the Jardins de Tulerie where artistis by Galleria Continua and M77 gallery are presented to the public.

We can also talk about Italian artists on the rescue in the stand of the New York gallery Sadie Cole HQ, where you can admire a sculpture by Diego Marcon, and in the space of Mendes Wood (the new artworks by Guglielmo Castelli).
Unlike the other international Art Basel events and unlike what was originally announced, the Parisian appointment loses the design part (Design Miami), but the Ville Lumiere isn’t insensitive to the decorative arts thanks to many special events, exhibitions and art market spin offs that are animating the whole week. Among the latter it is worth mentioning the “Paris Internationale” fair, which has chosen 35 Boulevard de Capucines as its location. The same building that, at the end of the nineteenth century, was the headquarters of the photographer Nadar's studio, the first to host a impressionist exhibition.The participants are 56 art galleries including the famous Apalazzogallery from Brescia.

We then move on to another kind of exhibition with the seventh edition of Akaaa, Also Known As African Art: the art fair dedicated to contemporary African art and design.

From Africa we "fly" then to Asia with Asian Now. There are also many museums exhibitions not to be missed such as the in-depth study dedicated to Anri Sala at the Bourse de Commerce, Ugo Rondinone at the Petit Palais and the drawings by Giuseppe Penone at the Center Pompidou, where the retrospective about Alice Neel triumphs. The Palais de Tokyo is also to be added to art lovers list.
In short, this week more than ever it can be said that “Paris is well worth a mass”.