Market dispatch·Paris
86% of French galleries brace for the worst as Art Basel Paris opens in a city rattled by protests
As Art Basel Paris opens at the Grand Palais, Paris's cultural calendar is collapsing around it — the foreign ministry postponed a Quai d'Orsay exhibition, the Jeu de Paume scrapped its VIP opening, and student protests shut school openings — while a new CPGA barometer finds 86% of French galleries pessimistic and fair economics (€432M for the capital) under strain.
Paris opened its biggest art-market week under a cloud. As Art Basel Paris opened at the Grand Palais on Tuesday for previews, the cultural calendar around it was unravelling: the foreign ministry postponed its Quai d'Orsay design exhibition on October 15, the Jeu de Paume scrapped its VIP opening after violence on October 17–18, and on October 19 student protests shut down openings at the École du Louvre and the Beaux-Arts.
To calm nerves, the fair detailed security arranged with a private firm and the Paris police prefecture: anti-ram barriers around the Grand Palais, round-the-clock patrols and stricter visitor checks. Director Karim Crippa invoked the city's motto, Fluctuat nec mergitur — tossed by the waves, never sunk. But gallery union chief Philippe Charpentier says many collectors have asked whether to postpone — and foreigners staying away would clearly hurt in a week decisive for the trade.
The stakes are huge: in 2024 the fair generated €432 million for the capital, while parent company MCH Group's profits tripled in the year's first half. Fairs supply about a third of galleries' revenue, and with the market sluggish, many works left unsold in Basel in June will end up in Paris, predicts shipper Axel Haddad. Yet the CPGA calculates that genuine French representation has fallen from 29% to 21% in five years once foreign-owned Paris outposts are excluded — a claim Crippa rebutted by noting that LVMH is still counted as French.
A new CPGA barometer by economist Nathalie Moureau found 86% of French galleries pessimistic; the 1.45% turnover rebound in 2025 followed a 12% plunge in 2024 and cost 19% of gallery jobs in a year. The malaise is global: Pace cut a fifth of its workforce in June and dropped at least 50 artists, while ex-Art Basel director Marc Spiegler has written that the art world expanded wildly while the market's dollar volume did not. Some dealers are adapting anyway — Frank Elbaz opened a quiet new Rue de Turenne space for slow exhibitions, and Christophe Gaillard is betting on Bangkok, source of a fifth of his 2026 turnover.
