With preview days on June 17 and 18, 2025, the 55th anniversary edition of Art Basel in Basel, which ran from June 19 to 22, 2025, unequivocally reaffirmed its position as the preeminent hub of the worldwide art market. Registered strong sales across all categories and presented a fascinating and varied program, the fair was a dynamic confluence of collectors, curators, artists, and aficionados. This year’s event celebrated creative dialogue and demonstrated the resiliency of the art world, so confirming Art Basel’s importance as a major worldwide cultural catalyst. It was not only a commercial success.
The 2025 edition was evidence of the fair’s continuing attractiveness and its ability to gather the most powerful personalities in the art industry. With an outstanding total attendance of 88,000 people over its run, the Messe Basel halls hummed with a vitality that permeated the entire city. Comprising 42 countries and territories, the fair showcased 289 of the most esteemed international galleries worldwide, so transforming Basel into a vibrant center for discovery and connection.
Maike Cruse, Director of Art Basel in Basel, said, “This year’s edition of Art Basel has demonstrated the enduring strength, resilience, and international reach of the global art market.” Celebrating the comeback of foreign collectors and art enthusiasts, she noted that “the energy in the halls and throughout the city was a powerful reminder of the role Basel plays as a cultural meeting point and catalyst for artistic exchange.”
An Extreme Success for Art Basel 2025.
The metrics of Art Basel 2025 provide significant insights into its success and its crucial role in the art scene. Under one roof, the microcosm of the worldwide art scene is produced by the convergence of 289 top galleries from 42 countries. With 88,000 total attendance, the public and professional taste for excellent art as well as the special experience Art Basel offers are highlighted. From seasoned collectors to new aficionados, this number shows a notable congregation of people strongly committed to the arts, all adding to the dynamic environment.
The success of the fair reflects a well-chosen platform that promotes intellectual interaction as well as commercial activity, not a one-off occurrence. The high sales shown from the beginning and throughout the public days point to a confident market. Art Basel once more acted as a barometer for the state and direction of the market as a driving force within the global art scene; the 2025 edition clearly shows vitality and strength.
Global Reach and Expected Attendance at Art Basel
The varied backgrounds of Art Basel’s attendees revealed its very worldwide character. In over 96 countries and territories, ranging from Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, eminent private collectors and powerful art patrons traveled.
Collector Demographics: An International Viewpoint
The fair attracted notable attendance from Switzerland, Germany, the USA, the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, China, the Netherlands, and Spain and established collector bases elsewhere.
Showing the event’s increasing influence and appeal in developing nations, Art Basel also welcomed collectors and patrons from a broad array of other countries, including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Chile, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, and Uzbekistan, so attesting to its growing global footprint.
Comparably important was the institutional presence, which emphasizes Art Basel’s relevance for academic and curatorial activities. Visiting the show, representatives from more than 250 world-class museums and foundations interacted with galleries and searched for purchases that will impact public collections for years to come.
Visiting foundations and museums is a selection.
North America: Art Gallery of Ontario (Canada), Denver Art Museum (USA), LACMA – Los Angeles County Museum of Art (USA), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (USA), MoMA and MoMA PS1 (USA), New Museum (USA), SFMOMA – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (USA), Whitney Museum of American Art (USA).
Europe: Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (Italy), Centre Pompidou (France), Collection Pinault (France), Fondation Louis Vuitton (France), Galleria Borghese (Italy), Groeningemuseum (Belgium), Kunsthaus Zürich (Switzerland), Leopold Museum (Austria), Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark), MAMCO – Musée d’art moderne et contemporain (Switzerland), Neue Nationalgalerie (Germany), Palais de Tokyo (France), Palazzo Strozzi (Italy), Rijksmuseum (Netherlands), Serpentine Galleries (UK), Städel Museum (Germany), Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (Germany), Tate (UK), and The National Gallery (UK).
Asia, the Middle East, and Africa: A4 Arts Foundation (South Africa), Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (UAE), Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (Turkey), Leeum – Samsung Museum of Art (South Korea), M+ Museum (Hong Kong), National Gallery Singapore, Norval Foundation (South Africa), Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Israel), Watari-um – The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan), Yuz Museum (China), Zeitz MOCAA – Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (South Africa).
Significant Market Trends and Sales at Art Basel
From the very start, exhibitors at Art Basel 2025 reported notable sales across all market segments and show sectors, reflecting the commercial strength of the event. This strong activity confirmed the fair’s leadership as the main commercial event in the world of art. Notable placements included major works by seasoned blue-chip artists, including David Hockney’s “Mid November Tunnel” (2006), a hanging sculpture by Ruth Asawa (c. 1955), and important pieces by Gerhard Richter, Keith Haring, and Mark Bradford.
With major successes and institutional acquisitions recorded for artists like Cecilia Vicuña, Loie Hollowell, and Alina Szapocznikow, the market also clearly supported works by leading female artists. This shows a growing respect for the contributions made by female artists over history and a continuous and welcome market correction. Moreover, the fair turned out to be a rich ground for new talent; first-time exhibitors showed outstanding momentum, implying a dynamic and changing market ready for new voices and ideas.
Expansive Vision of Art Basel: Immersion Public Art
Through its celebrated sectors, Unlimited, Parcours, and a massive installation on the Messeplatz, Art Basel’s dedication to public involvement and ambitious artistic projects was most clearly on display.
Returning with a striking collection of almost 70 works, the Unlimited sector, committed to large-scale installations and performances outside the conventional art fair booth, was curated by Giovanni Carmine, Director of the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, for the fifth straight year; the sector presented a set of significant and sometimes grandiose experiences. Highlights included Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s legendary and evocative “Untitled (Go-Go Dancing Platform),” Andrea Büttner’s potent “Shame Punishments,” and Atelier Van Lieshout’s epic narrative “The Voyage – A March to Utopia.” The industry also highlighted Thomas Schütte’s arresting “Engel,” the haunting premiere of “Sham3dan (Candelabra),” and Marinella Senatore’s inspirational “We Rise by Lifting Others.” Cairo-based dance group, nasa4nasa The sector’s popularity was highlighted on the Unlimited Night, which provided longer viewing times.
Dominating the Messeplatz, the public square at the center of the fair, was “CHOIR” (2025), a stunning work by eminent German artist Katharina Grosse. Grosse changed the architecture and surfaces in her biggest work to date in an urban setting by covering more than 5,000 square meters with a brilliant sweep of magenta—a color she uses for its best visibility to the human eye in outdoor environments. Under Natalia Grabowska’s curation, this site-specific painting’s strong and immersive chromatic expression completely changed the experience of public space.
Arriving back in Basel’s Clarastrasse under the theme “Second Nature,” carefully chosen for the second year by Stefanie Hessler, Director of the Swiss Institute in New York, the Parcours sector expanded into the city itself. New commissioned, site-specific works exploring the complicated and sometimes hostile interaction between nature and artifice were displayed in this sector. By means of immersive, multi-sensory experiences, artists interacted closely with the urban fabric and the human condition. Highlights included striking works by Sturtevant, Marianna Simnett, Shahryar Nashat, Thomas Bayrle, and Yu Ji; Hylozoic/Desires’ massive 80-meter textile installation at Münsterplatz; and Selma Selman’s moving scent-and-sound-infused car hood memorial in St. Clara Church.
The inaugural Art Basel Awards honor cultural contribution.
The Art Basel Awards, a new project meant to honor eminent artists in Basel, made a major addition for the 2025 edition. Following an official ceremony at the venerable Rathaus Basel, the first Medalist Reception at the Kunstmuseum Basel on June 19 honored 36 medalists.
Working with RAW Material Company, the Art Basel Awards unveiled the Koyo Kouoh Fellowship in a historic announcement at the reception. For one art professional from Africa annually for the next three years, this fellowship will offer a fully sponsored professional development program at Art Basel in Basel, so significantly promoting talent and professional interchange.
Supported by the Canton of Basel-Stadt, the first Art Basel Awards Summit convened the following day. Free to all, this public-facing event included keynotes and panel discussions including artists, curators, museum directors, and patrons among medalists, jurors, and other eminent voices from throughout the cultural spectrum. The Art Basel Awards are presented in association with BOSS.
Beyond the Booths: Art Basel Programming and Collaborations
A network of committed partners supports Art Basel’s success and vast programming. Built on a shared passion for modern art, UBS has been the Global Lead Partner of Art Basel for more than thirty years. Head of UBS Global Wealth Management EMEA, Christi Novakovic, and Chair of the UBS Art Board said the fair is a “vital meeting point,” adding, “We need the dialogue, curiosity, and connection that Art Basel provides more than ever.” UBS’s involvement in 2025 included “Endless Possibilities: Geometric Abstraction,” an exhibition of works from the prestigious UBS Art Collection housed in the UBS Lounge, together with their support of public programming all week.
Presenting the Qatar Pavilion, which highlighted the country’s cultural legacy and inventiveness, Qatar also made a debut as a Premium Partner at the fair. The Pavilion included a lounge with a carefully chosen menu created by Chef Noof Al-Marri and a special preview of the Al Maha Island development—home of the future Lusail Museum. This preview comprised a small loan from the Musée d’Orsay, part of a 2025 cultural exchange agreement with France, and some pieces from the collection of Orientalist art housed within the museum.
Additional help came from Associate Partners: the Hong Kong Tourism Board and Audemars Piguet, as well as a host of local and worldwide partners, including BMW, Ruinart, Samsung, Baloise, and Microsoft. The Art Basel Shop offered a vivid new chapter with a capsule collection from guest artist Katharina Grosse, other sought-after partnerships, a limited-edition Labubu by Kasing Lung, and an exclusive FC Basel collector’s jersey.
Basel as the City-Wide Art Basel Canvas
Art Basel transformed the whole city of Basel into an unmatched scene of artistic discovery, transcending the exhibition halls’ energy. Complementing the fair’s offerings was a constellation of world-class shows at the city’s prestigious museums.
Simultaneous Museum Exhibits (Highlights)
Major presentations by Jordan Wolfson, a Collection Presentation, and Vija Celmins at Fondation Beyeler.
Kunstmuseum Basel: Medardo Rosso and “Verso” exhibitions
Kunsthalle Basel: Dala Nasser, Ser Serpas, Marie Matusz Schaulager—a fresh, site-specific work by the esteemed artist and director Steve McQueen
Other venues featured notable exhibits at Kunsthaus Baselland, Museum Tinguely, the Vitra Design Museum, and Schaudepot.
Liste Art Fair Basel, which honored the city’s 30th anniversary, the esteemed Swiss Art Awards exhibition, and the fourth Basel Social Club—which cleverly turned a former private bank into a multi-room artistic universe—added even more enrichment to the city’s cultural program.
Leave a Reply