{"id":64778,"date":"2026-05-13T16:48:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T16:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/64778\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T16:48:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T16:48:52","slug":"at-miami-basel-dealers-notch-big-sales-digital-art-draws-crowds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/64778\/","title":{"rendered":"At Miami Basel, Dealers Notch Big Sales, Digital Art Draws Crowds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The art world came out in force for the VIP opening of Art Basel Miami Beach on Wednesday morning, with long lines in the lobby of the Miami Beach Convention Center and scores of artworks selling in the first few hours.<\/p>\n

Early birds at the biggest contemporary art fair in the United States included Florida collectors Craig Robins, Mera and Don Rubell, Norman Braman, and Beth Rudin DeWoody. Artist JR and his entourage chatted in front of a large sculpture of an upside-down white eagle by Maurizio Cattelan at Gagosian. Gawkers milled around a bulbous crimson Jeff Koons sculpture at David Zwirner, priced at $10 million, and crowds descended on the fair\u2019s new digital-art section, Zero 10, where Beeple offered robotic dogs with the heads of tech titans Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, as well as Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and the artist himself.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Jeff Koons\u2019s Venus at David Zwirner at Art Basel Miami Beach 2025. Photo by Katya Kazakina.<\/p>\n

The fair, now in its 23rd edition, has 283 galleries from 43 countries, including 48 first-time participants, some of whom were invited after a number of prominent exhibitors pulled out. The main Galleries sector has been struggling, with players big and small closing in recent months, and many more are hanging on by a thread.<\/p>\n

The big question heading into this week was whether the art trade has turned the corner after a three-year contraction, following the success of the recent $2.2 billion auctions in New York and strong fairs in Europe in October. Was Leonard Lauder\u2019s collection a gilded one-off or a sign of a long-awaited broader market resurgence?<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

Maurizio Cattelan\u2019s Bones (2025), made of Carrara marble, at Gagosian during Art Basel Miami Beach 2025. Photo by Katya Kazakina<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are off to a very strong start,\u201d Larry Gagosian said in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m happy to see that the momentum from the November auction season in New York is carrying over into the art fairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven-Figure Deals<\/p>\n

Hauser and Wirth reported six sales exceeding $1 million, led by a $3.9 million painting from 2011 by George Condo, who announced his departure from the gallery last month. White Cube sold a sculpture by Richard Hunt, whose solo exhibition opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami this week, for $1 million, and a Willem de Kooning work on paper for $3 million. Gladstone placed a Robert Rauschenberg \u201cCopperhead\u201d work for $1.5 million. Pace\u2018s sales included a $1.1 million Sam Gilliam canvas from 2020 and a $400,000 Lynda Benglis from 1979.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no fair in the U.S. that rivals Art Basel Miami,\u201d Lehmann Maupin co-founder David Maupin said. \u201cEvery year it\u2019s one of our most productive and rewarding events on the art world calendar. We\u2019ve placed over 15 works so far, which is a good indication of a healthier market heading into 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

His gallery\u2019s sales included two new paintings by McArthur Binion from his \u201cDNA:Study\u201d series, for a total of $500,000, and a new glass-beaded painting by Liza Lou, titled Hyperbaton, which went to collectors based in California for between $200,000 and $250,000.\u00a0 The gallery also sold three works by the Korean artist Do Ho Suh, including a large-scale work from his \u201cScaledBehaviour\u201d series.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Installation view of Berry Campbell\u2019s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2025. Image courtesy Berry Campbell.<\/p>\n

Berry Campbell, which focuses on rediscovering 20th-century female artists, sold six works, including Mercedes Matter\u2019s Untitled (Still Life), circa 1978, for $175,000, Mary Abbott\u2018s Hill\u2019s Dancers (1948) for $275,000, two paintings by Elaine de Kooning for $75,000 each, an Untitled (1971) painting by Betty Parsons for $65,000, and Yvonne Thomas\u2019s Caribbean Shore (1959) for $375,000.<\/p>\n

Andrew Schoelkopf, whose eponymous Tribeca gallery specializes in American Modernism, said that his area has been less volatile than the contemporary realm in recent years. By the end of the preview day, he had sold works by Thomas Hart Benton (in the range of $400,000 to $500,000), Marsden Hartley ($200,000 to $300,000), Andrew Wyeth ($400,000 to $500,000), and Ed Clark ($300,000 to $400,000).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are happy to see us,\u201d said Miami collector Dennis Scholl, who bought a drawing by Emily Kraus at Luhring Augustine.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Installation view of Justine Hill\u2019s The Travelers (2022) in the Meridians section of Art Basel Miami Beach 2025. Image courtesy the artist and Dimin<\/p>\n

Art Basel\u2019s decision this year to open its Meridians sector, which is dedicated to large-scale work, to dealers without booths proved to be a wise choice. <\/p>\n

New York gallerist Robert Dimin is debuting there with a 12-panel painting installation by Justine Hill thatis titled The Travelers (2022). \u201cI took the opportunity to apply and they let me in,\u201d Dimin said. \u201cThey liked the proposal. So we rolled the dice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A Good Day\u2019 for Digital Offerings<\/p>\n

The energy was wild in the new Zero 10 section for digital art. By 3 p.m., about 65 percent of the work there had sold, according to digital art promoter Benny Gross, who helped organize the initiative. <\/p>\n

Beeple\u2019s 10 dogs, each an edition of two, had sold out at $100,000 a pop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is awesome,\u201d Beeple, aka Mike Winkelmann, said of the crowded section and robust sales. \u201cIt seems like it\u2019s holding its own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Installation view of Lehmann Maupin\u2019s booth at Art Basel Miami Beach 2025. Left to right, artworks by Lari Pittman and Do Ho Suh. Image courtesy Lehmann Maupin Gallery.<\/p>\n

Nearby, artist Mike Kozlowski presented five algorithmically created wall-hung works and sculptures that were priced at $25,000 and $35,000. All sold within a few hours. \u201cIt\u2019s been a good day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the sector\u2019s gift shop, a digital print by Emily Xie was priced at $1,300 and came with an NFT in an edition of 80. The piece launched online today and sold out in 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

One of Art Basel\u2019s goals with Zero 10 is to lure potential buyers from the tech industry into the art world. It \u201cis the first substantive move in that direction,\u201d Art Basel CEO Noah Horowitz said. \u201cYou are going to see a lot of new people coming around to Art Basel as a result of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

His conversations with the fair\u2019s exhibitors inevitably come down to the challenge of building \u201cbridges to new collecting communities,\u201d he said, and \u201ccontinuously bringing new audiences in front of them and their artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Jack Pierson, Something Hopeful (2025) at Regen Projects. Photo by Eileen Kinsella<\/p>\n

After a long bear market, optimism is in the air. \u201cThere\u2019s more hope in the art world again,\u201d said Lisa Anastos, a collector based in New York and Palm Beach.<\/p>\n

As if trying to will this into reality, a 2025 text artwork by Jack Pierson on the wall of Regen Projects\u2018 booth reads: \u201csomething hopeful.\u201d But a degree of caution is still present, and the Pierson work, priced at $200,000, was unsold by the end of the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The art world came out in force for the VIP opening of Art Basel Miami Beach on Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35354,8099,13634,1936,3369,35343,1476,27391,35166,35193,31363,27390,31362,77,3858,35346,35353,15500,35344,35356,35345,13637,1527,35351,35341,35349,35347,35355,1531,35352,2696,35348,35342,35357,35350,35340],"class_list":{"0":"post-64778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basel","8":"tag-american-modernism-market","9":"tag-andy-warhol","10":"tag-art-basel-miami","11":"tag-art-basel-miami-beach","12":"tag-art-basel-miami-beach-2025","13":"tag-art-basel-vip-opening","14":"tag-art-fairs","15":"tag-art-news","16":"tag-art-prices","17":"tag-artists","18":"tag-artnet-pro","19":"tag-artnet-news","20":"tag-artnet-news-pro","21":"tag-basel","22":"tag-beeple","23":"tag-beeple-robotic-dogs","24":"tag-berry-campbell-women-artists","25":"tag-contemporary","26":"tag-contemporary-art-market-recovery","27":"tag-digital-art-collectors-miami","28":"tag-digital-art-zero-10","29":"tag-do-ho-suh","30":"tag-gagosian","31":"tag-gladstone-rauschenberg-sale","32":"tag-hans-ulrich-obrist","33":"tag-hauser-and-wirth-sales","34":"tag-jeff-koons-venus-miami","35":"tag-justine-hill-the-travelers","36":"tag-lehmann-maupin","37":"tag-lehmann-maupin-mcarthur-binion","38":"tag-market","39":"tag-maurizio-cattelan-bones","40":"tag-miami-art-week-sales","41":"tag-nfts","42":"tag-white-cube-de-kooning","43":"tag-zwirner"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}