Paris welcomed the art trade on Tuesday with a cautious but confident opening to Art Basel Paris, as the fair's ultra-exclusive Avant-Première preview brought a smaller, harder-headed crowd through the Grand Palais. Dealers described the afternoon as brisk rather than frenzied: aisles stayed navigable, and the blue-chip booths did steady business with collectors who had made the trip despite a turbulent weekend of protests across the city. Several American collectors and museum leaders were spotted on the floor, a relief to exhibitors who had worried that unrest might keep them away.

The headline act belonged to Pace Di Donna Schrader, which unveiled what is believed to be the fair's most expensive work: Amedeo Modigliani's Nu étendu (Lolotte), a 1917 reclining nude valued at more than $100 million. The gallery said the painting had not been seen publicly in roughly a century and had featured in the artist's only lifetime solo exhibition, at Galerie Berthe Weill in 1917, where its frankness caused a scandal.

Elsewhere, the sales numbers told a story of selective appetite for heavyweight material. Hauser & Wirth reported moving Gerhard Richter's 1965 Rokokotisch and Georg Baselitz's 1965 Der Hirte for roughly $10 million each, alongside a $2.9 million George Condo and a $1.5 million Philip Guston. Gagosian confirmed an eight-figure sale of a 1987 Willem de Kooning. Thaddaeus Ropac closed 15 deals including four Picassos and a €1.8 million Lucio Fontana, while White Cube logged 16 sales, two of them Julie Mehretu paintings at $7.85 million apiece.

Dealers across the fair stressed that pricing discipline now rules. One adviser observed that collectors no longer accept quoted prices at face value and demand research before committing, which has slowed decision-making since the market's peak years. Even so, galleries with fresh, museum-quality stock found buyers quickly, suggesting that Paris's fifth edition under the Art Basel banner has consolidated its place as the autumn season's serious-money fair.