A version of this article originally appeared in The Back Room, our lively recap funneling only the week’s must-know art industry intel into a nimble read you’ll actually enjoy. Artnet News Pro members get exclusive access—subscribe now to receive the newsletter in your inbox every Friday.

“It’s going great. There are a lot of Americans here,” Hauser and Wirth president, Marc Payot, told me at Art Basel Paris’s new VVIP Avant Première on Tuesday. (Although, the most exclusive invite of the week was ostensibly a visit to the Louvre, where a group of American patrons got to visit the museum before it reopened to the public after a shocking $102 million heist on Sunday.)

U.S. collectors had been expected at Paris this year, after being thin on the ground during Art Basel in Switzerland in June, but the relief that they actually showed up was still palpable. It has been a glum summer in the trade.

Evening view of the Grand Palais in Paris illuminated for Art Basel Paris, with visitors entering the neoclassical exhibition hall.

The Main Entrance of the Grand Palais during the opening of Art Basel Paris 2025 on October 22, 2025 in Paris, France. Photo: Luc Castel/Getty Images.

The fair, which runs through Sunday at the Grand Palais, ended the work week on a high note, announcing that it’s promoting Karim Crippa, its head of communications, to be its director. Crippa takes the place of Clément Delépine, who was hired to lead Lafayette Anticipations.

Big Buzz

It wasn’t just Americans buying in Paris, of course, but their presence was a vote of confidence, and big sales abounded during the VVIP and VIP days, offering a much-needed morale boost.

Visitors explore art fair booths inside the Grand Palais in Paris, beneath its iconic glass and iron dome architecture.

Art Basel Paris’s Avant Première on Tuesday. Courtesy of Art Basel Paris.

Hauser and Wirth moved a 1987 Gerhard Richter abstraction for $23 million. Julie Mehretu’s 2007 Charioteer traded for $11.5 million at White Cube’s stand, while Thaddaeus Ropac sold Alberto Burri’s Sacco e oro (1953) for $4.8 million. At Karma, Matthew Wong’s White Wave, Black Sand (2017) went for $3.5 million. Perrotin sold more than 12 works by Maurizio Cattelan, each priced between $104,000 and $208,000, a haul totaling above $3 million. (Artnet’s “Price Check,” out next week, will have all the reported sales.)

There was work on offer at even higher prices, like a $50 million Pablo Picasso at Nahmad Contemporary and a $25.5 million Richter abstraction, this one from 1988, at Lévy Gorvy Dayan.

Contemporary art fair booth displaying abstract paintings, bronze sculpture, and wooden furniture in a minimalist white space.

Installation view of Thaddaeus Ropac’s Art Basel Paris booth, with Alberto Burri’s Sacco e oro (1953) at center. Courtesy of Thaddaeus Ropac.

Buzz has been building around Paris’s contemporary art scene for years, but the city really asserted its position as the go-to European trade hub this week. The art historically rich city is “reclaiming its place as one of the three global capitals for contemporary art and the art market,” Mathieu Paris, global director of White Cube, said, mentioning the “extraordinary” concentration of collectors and curators who were in town.

Paris Calling

New events are joining the action. Sara Maria Salamone, of New York’s Mrs. Gallery, and Brigitte Mulholland, who left New York to set up shop in Paris in 2023, partnered on an alternative fair, 7 rue Froissart, just around the corner from Mulholland’s gallery. It features 11 galleries from the U.S. and Europe. Salamone said she wanted to capitalize on the momentum she felt participating in NADA Paris in 2024 (which didn’t return this year). “It was the last time I felt like I was making connections with people from both Europe and Asia,” she said. Sales have been slow at the event, she said, but engagement is high. “There are big curators, collectors, and other dealers coming through,” she said.

Contemporary art gallery interior with colorful abstract paintings on white walls, featuring a large tree artwork as the focal point.

Installation view of Mrs. gallery at 7 rue Froissart. Photo: Nicolas Brasseur. Courtesy of Mrs. gallery.

Meanwhile, the homegrown satellite fair Paris Internationale is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, with a new location close to the Grand Palais and 75 local and international exhibitors. The fair announced this week that it will expand to Milan next year, another market hotspot where blue-chip outfits like Ropac are putting down roots.

The Bottom Line

It’s not all hunkydory. While there are green shoots of market recovery, they are uneven, as I reported on Wednesday. And plenty of galleries don’t have the luxury of waiting around for things to improve further, as recent closures have proven. Some French galleries have said that a hoped-for Basel trickle-down effect hasn’t panned out.

A giant green inflatable art installation resembling a cartoon figure is displayed in a Paris square, drawing public attention.

Workers install the artwork of Venezuelan-US artist Alex Da Corte titled Kermit the Frog, Even at Place Vendome in Paris, on October 19, 2025, ahead of the official opening of Art Basel Paris. Photo: DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images.

One thing is for sure: Crippa has a lot to balance now that Art Basel Paris looks to be the premier European art fair, outpacing even Basel Basel in terms of sales and extracurricular activities. As “a driving force” in establishing the Paris show’s distinctive identity since 2022, according to job announcement, he’s certainly no stranger to the task. “I will do everything in my power to help advance this exceptional show and to remain a tireless advocate for the city of Paris,” he said in a statement. Salut!