The organizers of Art Basel Paris 2024 could not have dreamed of better weather as the fair unveiled its first edition at the Grand Palais yesterday in a balmy, almost summery climate. As a winding queue of VIPs streamed into the complex at 10 a.m. for the fair’s preview, the venue was replete with its Beaux-Arts glory, and perfect sunlight poured in from the newly restored glass roof onto the booths below. The venue was used for tae kwon do during the Paris Olympics this summer, yet the only grappling performed at the Grand Palais yesterday was in the line for the collector’s lounge.

The location change (its previous two editions took place at the temporary Grand Palais Éphémère) isn’t the only difference seen at the fair, Art Basel’s third in the French capital. This year is also the first under the new title of Art Basel Paris (the fair was formerly named Paris+ par Art Basel). And in the grandeur of its location, the strength of inventory and caliber of clientele and exhibitors, this year’s fair felt more like a typical “Art Basel” occasion than ever before—with the touch of Parisian flair a most welcome addition.

“The enormous energy, bonhomie, and internationalism of the fair’s first day, along with the magnificent architecture and atmosphere of the Grand Palais, confirm that Paris truly is a 21st-century art world capital,” said Hauser & Wirth president Marc Payot.

Art Basel Paris 2024 features 195 galleries from 42 countries in this year’s edition, up from 154 from the year before and featuring some 53 first-time exhibitors. In addition to unveiling a glamorous new partnership with Miu Miu, Art Basel has also beefed up its program of events and exhibitions across town, adding five new venues to its citywide program, including the Domaine National du Palais-Royal and the Petit Palais. Yet in addition to the various events across town, Art Basel is also enticing repeat visits to the Grand Palais with “Oh La La!,” where 33 galleries at the fair will rehang their booths to celebrate “unexpected or unusual artworks” on Friday.

In addition to the main Galeries section, Art Basel Paris includes Emergence, focused on galleries presenting solo presentations of young and emerging artists. New to the fair this year is Premise, where nine galleries present “highly singular curatorial proposals.” Those looking for tote bags, selfie sticks, and other Art Basel–branded merchandise, meanwhile, will also be delighted to learn that the Art Basel Shop—launched at Art Basel’s flagship Swiss fair earlier this year—also has a stand at the Grand Palais (the store was busier than some booths in the early hours of the VIP opening).

From the outset of the fair, it was clear that any signs of fair fatigue that some VIPs may have had from last week’s Frieze London had been all but abated. Featuring quite possibly the longest art fair queue that this writer has encountered on a VIP morning, Art Basel Paris carried a relentless energy throughout the day, with several booths packed to capacity within the opening minutes. As early as midday, it was clear that the strong spirits among the international crowd in attendance were being matched with similarly robust transactions. Sales on the opening day were led by a $9.5 million work by Julie Mehretu at White Cube’s booth.

See our full roundup of day-one sales from the fair here and check back for the full sales report on Monday. Below, we present the 10 best booths from Art Basel Paris 2024.

Booth B52

With works by Hunter Reynolds, Martha Wilson, David Wojnarowicz, Martin Wong, Ann Agee, Grace Carney, Gerald Lovell, and Betty Tompkins.

New York stalwart P.P.O.W draws parallels between its past, present, and future in a booth that underscores the Tribeca tastemaker’s enduring art world influence.

“We try in every booth to sort of reflect the diversity of the gallery in terms of estates and then new artists, in terms of generations,” said co-founder Wendy Olsoff. “When you’re putting together a booth, you’re trying to make it visually dynamic, but we always try to keep some content as well.”

The booth is foregrounded by a delightful table of ceramic vases by Ann Agee (the artist also painted the tablecloth underneath). These works, deceptively straightforward, reveal themselves on approach as nimble exercises in formal experimentation: Some of the works appear to contort in angular juts, while others bear an almost liquid-like sense of motion. Each vase has a twin—speaking to the tradition of presenting vessels in pairs in historical homes—yet each one is clearly unique, bearing its own character.

Agee sits on the more established side of P.P.O.W’s program, along with works by artists such as Martha Wilson and Betty Tompkins. Also featured are works by three of the gallery’s most prominent estates, including Hunter Reynolds, David Wojnarowicz, and Martin Wong. Wong’s outstanding painting Our Lady of the Lower East Side (1989–90), depicting a skateboarder leaping off a brick-built Statue of Liberty, is an outstanding example of the artist’s uniquely textural style.

On the gallery’s more emerging side of the roster, paintings by Grace Carney are a fine example of the artist’s sinuous, gauzy approach to abstraction, while Gerald Lovell’s tender portrait of a man and two children is another highlight. Works at the booth range from $14,000 to more than $1 million.

Booth A30

With works by Louise Nevelson, Kiki Smith, Lucas Samaras, Paulina Olowska, Lee Ufan, Agnes Pelton, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, and Alexander Calder.

Pace Gallery can be counted upon for its cross-roster group presentations at major art fairs, but it’s not afraid to take a step in unexpected directions, as this booth from the mega-gallery shows. Curated by artist Paulina Olowska, the booth probes the figure of the witch, bringing together the artist’s own works along with those of fellow gallery artists Louise Nevelson, Kiki Smith, and Lucas Samaras.

“Paulina and I went to visit the Nevelson chapel in New York together, and Paulina was really taken with the sort of spirituality of the place,” explained Karine Haimo, vice president of the gallery. “Something that was very important for Paulina was to show with her idols and with people and artists that she greatly respects. So she kind of did a deep dive into our history and our roster, and decided to kind of curate a booth about the witches of Pace.”

Focusing on the figure of the witch and the notion of sorcery in each of these artists’ practices, the booth is that rare art fair presentation which feels akin to a gallery show. Painted in black, the wiry, discombobulated “chairs” of Samaras lean into the perverse, while Nevelson’s black painted wooden wall pieces play with the notions of shadows, forms, and negation. Elsewhere, sculptural works by Smith include cats and branches, while four of Olowska’s paintings showcase the artist’s preoccupation with Slavic mythology and the natural world. All four paintings had sold within the first hours of the VIP preview, along with a trio of sculptures by Smith, and a slate of works by Nevelson.

And if visitors thought they saw a nun on VIP day, it was in fact Olowska herself in costume. “It’s a little different for Pace, but it’s nice to recontextualize these artists amongst themselves and with her,” Haimo added. Prices for works at the booth range from $25,000–$950,000.

Booth K24

With works by Lungiswa Gqunta

In the fair’s Emergence section, focused on solo booths of younger artists, Cape Town–based gallery WHATIFTHEWORLD’s presentation of South African artist Lungiswa Gqunta is a powerful exploration of endurance and loss. Titled “Assemble the Disappearing, Site 1,” the works here probe the notion of the disappearance of humans and plants, placing the land as its witness.

These themes intersect in delicate and often surprising ways. In two of the fabric wall pieces draped on the booth, for instance, the printed image of what looks to be a sea of plant-like forms is populated by constellations of razor wires, a medium that holds a distinct personal resonance for the artist.

“She works with razor wire, barbed wire, and fabric as a juxtaposition of the soft feminine touch with this hard, very violent material that’s used to keep people out,” explained gallery director Akshar Maganbeharie. “The razor wire comes from a usage of being a barrier. But when she was growing up, the people in her area where she lived used to hang laundry on it.”

Other works at the booth make similarly inventive use of materials. In the floor piece Onlookers (2024), for instance, a winding piece of wood is made to resemble a carcass, populated by stained glass panes that drift and cling onto its various parts. It’s the density of meaning in each of Gqunta’s works that makes it a rewarding experience for the close inspector—a refreshing experience during the brisk pace of a VIP day. The booth wasn’t going unnoticed by visitors, noted Maganbeharie: “The materials that we use are quite different, the presentation is quite clean, and we’re having a really good response,” he told Artsy. Prices at the booth range from €10,000–€30,000 ($10,862–$32,587).

Booth B22

With works by Marlene Dumas, Gerhard Richter, Elizabeth Peyton, Lucas Arruda, Dana Schutz, Lisa Yuskavage, Josef Albers, Michaël Borremans, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Victor Man, Oscar Murillo, Luc Tuymans, and Andra Ursuţa.

As has become the norm with blue-chip art fairs, there was a point during the VIP day where walking into David Zwirner’s booth felt like an almost impossible task. With a crowd that was spilling into the concourse and Zwirner himself pacing around from client to client, it had the feeling more of a busy trading floor than an art fair booth (some might argue there is little difference between the two, after all).

Those who got a chance to take in the work displayed, however, were in for a treat—an impressive showcase of the strength and range of David Zwirner’s roster. Of particular note is a painting by the gallery’s new signee Victor Man: K (2014), a green-hued portrait of an ambiguous figure, which promptly found a buyer within the first few hours of the day, selling for €1.2 million ($1.3 million).

Also notable in the booth are outstanding new paintings by a slew of the gallery’s female artists: Dana Schutz (who has a solo show at David Zwirner’s Marais gallery), Lisa Yuskavage, Portia Zvavahera, Mamma Andersson, Suzan Frecon, and Elizabeth Peyton. On the more historical side, heavyweights such as Josef Albers and Gerhard Richter provide additional ballast to the display. The works by Richter, in particular, taken from the artist’s series of “family paintings” from the 1960s, still retain their powerfully haunting effect.

Sales at the booth, unsurprisingly, were extensive. Along with the Man painting, works by Schutz, Peyton, and Albers were among those selling for high-six-figure sums.

Booth P8

With works by Janet Sobel

A self-taught artist and a self-proclaimed Surrealist, Janet Sobel is a painter whose career started at age 45 in 1938, where she would go on to have a direct impact on many prominent Abstract Expressionist artists: Her “drip painting” technique, in particular, was a formative influence on Jackson Pollock, for instance.

In London’s The Gallery of Everything’s thoughfully curated display, works from across the artist’s career are presented—from the artist’s more classical phases to more abstracted examples, where the paint appears to pulse with energy as it swirls and arranges itself around loosely constructed figurative elements. Taken as a whole, the display is a microcosm of an artist that experimented relentlessly and unexpectedly.

“We specialize in showing unusual people, artists, and makers on the edges,” said gallery founder James Brett. “She has a foot in both worlds, because she really was a self-taught artist [and] the art world really informed her work. And you can see it in this compressed period of time in which she works; it’s phenomenal.” Works at the booth range in works on paper from €20,000–€50,000 ($21,725–$32,587), with paintings priced upwards from €75,000 ($81,468).

Booth D32

With works by Daniel Buren, Gianpietro Carlesso, Enrico Castellani, Dadamaino, Donald Judd, Jannis Kounellis, Giulio Paolini, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Mimmo Rotella.

Cardi Gallery’s ambitious presentation is also a very blue-chip one: crafting a dialogue between the post-war trio of Arte Povera, Minimalism, and Transavanguardia, three movements that owner Nicolò Cardi described as “the DNA and the pure identity of the gallery since the ’70s.”

Rather than feeling lofty, his presentation is in fact an elegantly cohesive display—a spacious and soothing booth that, in the context of the VIP day, was a welcome shift in atmosphere. From Bonalumi to Balliano, Carlesso to Castellani, works at the booth sit with each other in compelling fashion.

One work attracting the most attention on the VIP day was Jannis Kounellis’s Senza Titolo (2013). The work, a dark shelf populated with empty glasses, is a deft display of the artist’s eye for classical composition using ephemeral pieces and material objects—a core facet of the Arte Povera movement that he helped pioneer.

If the gallery’s staff seemed unusually calm once morning turned to afternoon on VIP day, it was because the booth had sold out within the first two hours of the fair, with prices ranging from $50,000–$2 million.

Booth A4

With works by Agrade Camíz, Arjan Martins, Ana Silva, Denilson Baniwa, João Modé, Kelton Campos Fausto, Laura Lima, Marcela Cantuária, Miguel Afa, O Bastardo, OPAVIVARÁ!, Renata Lucas, Rodrigo Torres, Sallisa Rosa, Vivian Caccuri and Yanaki Herrera.

Music is the through line at this booth from São Paulo’s A Gentil Carioca. “We want to present works that align with the understanding that musical composition goes beyond its sonority, triggering aesthetic and symbolic developments that create new imaginaries and creative pluralities,” said a spokesperson from the gallery.

The result is a booth that pops with color and surprise. Music is explored here as it relates to a broad swathe of artistic practices, such as in Maria Nepomuceno’s use of fabric, beads, rope, and wood, playing with rhythm and concepts of structure, space, and form. Elsewhere, music is referenced more directly, such as with Vivian Caccuri’s abstract textiles painted on mosquito nets that use sound data from music tracks to inform the color, thread, rhythm, and length of the works.

Visitors may also be alarmed by the masked, clown-like figure that appears to be sitting at the booth’s entrance: Laura Lima’s Monte de Irônicos: Palhaço com jarro de flores (2005/2024). At first glance it appears to be a floor sculpture, but occasionally it juts to life—startling more than a few fairgoers.

Booth C1

With works by Nina Chanel Abney, El Anatsui, Diedrick Brackens, Nick Cave, Hayv Kahraman, Jesse Krimes, Meleko Mokgosi, Odili Donald Odita, Rose B. Simpson, Hank Willis Thomas, Charisse Pearlina Weston, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Being positioned in the corner of a fair’s main section might not seem like the most optimal real estate for a gallery to occupy, but at Jack Shainman Gallery’s presentation, it’s a boon. Much of this is to do with the unusual layout of the booth (if it can even be called a booth). The first thing that visitors are likely to see as they enter is a clay sculpture of an elongated figure by Rose B. Simpson, Listen, A (2024), which sits on a column plinth of the Palais and appears to be surveying passersby.

This presentation of the gallery’s vast and eminently impressive roster is set within fitting environs, with its own alcove and staircase. “We’re so excited to be showing at Art Basel Paris for the first time!” said Tamsen Greene, the gallery’s executive director. “We appreciate how our booth highlights the unique and elegant architecture of the Grand Palais.”

Excellent new works abound at the booth. A painting by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye of a group at a dinner table is a charming display of the artist’s imaginative gift for depicting elusive scenes. Nina Chanel Abney’s sculpture The Qing (2024) depicts a figure balancing a vase of flowers on their foot and playfully peeks over at those below from its raised landing. And Nick Cave’s Arm Peace (2024) raises a fist in defiance from the other side of the booth, adorned in tole flowers. Along with other standout works by the likes of Hayv Kahraman, Meleko Mokgosi, and El Anatsui, this is a booth from a gallery shining a light on the strength of its program.

Booth A41

With works by Herbert Brandl, Heinrich Dunst, Helmut Federle, Bernard Frize, Katharina Grosse, Sheila Hicks, Imi Knoebel, Sonia Leimer, Isa Melsheimer, Miao Ying, Natasza Niedziółka, Walter Swennen, and Jongsuk Yoon.

Vienna stalwart Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder was the first gallery in Austria to focus on post-war avant-garde art when it opened as Galerie nächst St. Stephan in 1954. But as this booth shows, its founding commitment to art that is as intellectually stimulating as it is aesthetically engaging, is as alive as ever.

A case in point are paintings by Miao Ying—celestial, effervescent scenes that are simultaneously charming and elusive in form, made more intriguing by the artist’s process. Ying uses AI prompts to dictate the image’s form before sending these instructions to a production center in Shenzhen, tweaking and editing the result to produce the finalized image. Similar meditations on process are evident in works by artists from across the gallery’s booth, from the sculptural textiles of Sheila Hicks through to the intensely disciplined minimal abstraction of Bernard Frize.

Some of the booth’s standout works were borne as much from a practical consideration as a curatorial one—such as a bright textile piece by Isa Melsheimer, Curtain (If we dissolve now / We are more than we ever were) (2024). Melsheimer’s work—transposing a Polaroid image of a botanical garden amid bright shades of orange, red, and black—also happens to conceal the booth’s back room. “She loves to go to this botanical garden, and for her, it is like a mystical place,” noted gallery founder Schwarzwälder. “And of course, you go into the woods, and you go into the storage [area]. It’s a very nice metaphor, but also makes sense. We have a little cabinet here where you have all this intensity, but you have also a quiet moment.”

Prices for works on the booth range from $6,000–$360,000, and business was already strong early on during the VIP day for the gallery: A work by Hicks led the gallery’s ticket, selling for $360,000 to an Austrian collection.

Booth A2

With works by Enrico Castellani, Gino De Dominicis, William Kentridge, Joseph Kosuth, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Ettore Spalletti, Gian Maria Tosatti, Wael Shawky and Gilberto Zorio.

Milan gallery Lia Rumma uses its booth to create a succinct and sharp presentation that foregrounds the Arte Povera movement, currently the subject of a major survey at the Pinault Collection’s Parisian institution Bourse de Commerce.

“Lia Rumma, the gallery owner, is very much related to that exhibition, because she started her career with the Arte Povera exhibition in 1968 in Amalfi,” explained director Paola Potena. “That’s why you can see some historical works by Gilberto Zorio, who belongs to the Arte Povera movement.…It’s a kind of statement, so that the Italian artists can be seen.”