Art Market
Sarah Frost
Exterior view of the Bonne Espérance gallery. Courtesy of Good Hope Gallery.
Portrait of Anna Nevicka and Olivier Maréchal outside OA Fine Arts. Courtesy of OA Fine Art.
Paris is a city full of art history. Today, the French capital has a high density of galleries, as well as a rich pool of long-standing institutions and private museums, such as the Pinault Collection and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. People no longer go to Paris to visit the Louvre, but to see unique contemporary art exhibitions. Local again grayness and strike— gray skies and strikes — may persist, there is a sunny outlook on the Paris scene.
There are three main hubs of art world activity in the city: the old-world 6th arrondissement (Saint-Germain-des-Prés), the affluent 8th arrondissement (Avenue Matignon) and the creative epicenter of the Marais, which includes the 3rd. and the 4th districts.
Several wider developments have taken place in recent years. Since the UK’s departure from the European Union in 2020, a series of international galleries have opened, such as White Cube in 2020, Mariane Ibrahim in 2021 and Hauser & Wirth in 2023. Art Basel also launched the Paris+ fair in 2022, raising the city’s global profile. more art world profiles.
Interior view of Paris+ par Art Basel, 2023. Courtesy of Paris+ par Art Basel.
There has also been a new wave of young galleries, many of whom are using an international lens to curate their programming. Christophe Person opened his own gallery specializing in African art in December 2022, and previously worked at the French auction house Piasa, inaugurating the department of contemporary African art. Today, the African art market is “really within the mainstream,” he said, citing interest from collectors, institutions and private foundations.
“The relationship between France and Africa is very strong, but it is very charged,” Person said. “But especially for artists from francophone countries, they have this connection with France and Paris, I think they are happy to have the opportunity to show here.”
193 Gallery, with two spaces on rue Béranger in the Haut Marais, was founded by César Levy in 2018 to explore non-Western identities from the Caribbean, Latin America, Asia and Africa. He pointed out that, in addition to the giant Paris+, there is a spectrum of fairs for different regions and tastes. “There is a fair dedicated to African art [AKAA]Asian art [ASIA NOW]and in September there is a new fair dedicated to Latin American art [MIRA Art Fair],” he said. “There is this desire to discover different art scenes in the world.” In a more general exhibition, Art Paris opens next week (April 4-7) at the Grand Palais Éphémère, bringing together 136 modern and contemporary art galleries from 25 countries for its 26th edition. .
Scott Billy, who was born in America but lived in South Africa for 25 years, owned a company selling condoms and a non-profit offering free HIV services before opening the Bonne Espérance Gallery in 2019 in the 2nd arrondissement, near the Marais. “Paris has succeeded. There’s a great African art scene, but it’s almost entirely focused on West Africa, and it’s a big continent,” he told Artsy. “The South African art scene is quite different.” As he stated, “The three best defenders of African arts are New York, London, Paris. New York and London already have it [a] South African presence. Paris has no South African presence. That is the reason for the business. The real reason was because I love Paris.’
Portrait of Scott Billy outside the Bonne Espérance gallery. Courtesy of Good Hope Gallery.
Bim Bam Gallery, opened by Baimba Kamara (also on rue Béranger), started four years ago as a pop-up on rue Saint Claude in the 3rd arrondissement and a year ago found its permanent space further north. “I was able to limit my risk,” Kamara explained of the move. “It allows people with less income to start, and then you have the opportunity to grow; I could still be in the market and find my audience.’ French-born Kamara lived in California and loved the Oakland artists he met, realizing that while their careers were booming in the US, they had no visibility in Europe. He is particularly passionate about showing LGBTQ+ artists and is open to discussing representation in general, as one of the few Black gallery directors in Paris. “I feel like there are more galleries showing artists that speak to what’s going on in our society right now.”
Also on Rue Béranger is the DS Galerie, which moved to a permanent address in March 2023. “Paris is an important place for contemporary art. It’s about having a moment where the scene has caught the public’s interest,” said Thomas Havet, the founder of the gallery. From 2016 to 2022, Havet led a nomadic curatorial project, Double Séjour, which first began in her apartment and ended at POUSH—an industrial campus with about 250 artist studios outside Paris—in 2021. positivity” emerging from a more skeptical French culture, born from “the coming together of emerging artists and interested international collectors”.
Portrait of Thomas Havet by Noel Manalili. Courtesy of DS Galerie.
Alison Flora, installation view of “Etats d’âme” at DS Galerie, 2023. Photo by Romain Darnaud. Courtesy of DS Galerie.
Being neighbors to three of Paris’ newest galleries means that the Marais is the touchstone of the scene. “Paris is a super geographic for galleries, and people are very strict about it,” Kamara said. “Technically, I’m in République, but I would never say that in a gallery context—it’s Haut Marais.” You have to be in the Marais, things are happening there.’
The ambitious ambition of the Paris scene is clear, he adds: “Every year you can make a list of other shows you’ve missed. I wanted to go to great shows, I wanted to go, and I didn’t. The list is big every year. The spectrum is too much. If you’re trying to do your homework on galleries, you’re missing out on museums. If you do museums, you miss the galleries.’
Exterior view of Bim Bam Gallery, 2024. Photo by Nicolas Brasseur. By Bim Bam Ballery.
Further in the city, Anna Nevicka moved to Paris from Latvia 10 years ago, from a previous professional experience she collaborated with Olivier Maréchal, and two years ago she opened OA Fine Art. “Paris is still a very prestigious address,” said Nevicka. “New York or London, they are much bigger places; Paris has always had that luxury, and a very hidden atmosphere.” He noted that most of the galleries in the 8th arrondissement, where his space is located, feature “modern masters, early 20th century, even older, 17th and so on.”
Nevicka adds that there has been a “generational change” in the city’s culture: “I think that in the last decade French culture and cultural institutions have been much more open to new things.”
Back in the Marais, the Maât gallery, opened by Paris-born Franco-Egyptian gallerist Paul William, offers exhibitions and one-month stays. William first opened the NIL Gallery with a childhood friend in the Marais, where they focused on West African artists from Ghana and the Ivory Coast; A little over a year ago, he decided to launch his project. “Since the art of the African continent became a big trend – and I’m glad that it is emerging – I wanted to open up the scope and focus on Latin American artists, because they are not very well known here,” he said.
Geoffroy Pithon, installation view of “Paysage des choses” at Maât Gallery, 2024. Photo by Studio Vanssay. Courtesy of Maât gallery.
As William points out, “people have a more entrepreneurial sense in Paris in recent years,” which fits with what he describes as the French “attitude” toward art: “We’re very sensitive to the museums that surround us.” he said Fresh energy has entered the city from a new and more international crowd; William cites the opening of David Zwirner in 2019 and Mendes Wood DM last year as hallmarks of change. “When people come to Europe it is an ‘inevitable’ destination,” he said. “Paris is a kind of brand.”
And it’s this brand—exact standards, relentless appetite for culture, local pride offset by curiosity about other art scenes—that keeps Paris’ reputation so untouchable.
Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify a quote from Paul William translated from the French.
