Paris has become an international platform for exchange and experimentation

Julie Chaizemartin

Galleries show confidence in the French market

According to The Art Market Report 2023 published by Art Basel and UBS, France is the world’s 4th largest art market after the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, with a sales volume approaching USD 5 billion in 2022, an all-time record and equivalent to a 7% market share. This dynamism is attracting ever more international players, seduced by the artistic aura and multicultural offering of the Parisian marketplace. 
‘In over 50 years of existence, 2022 has been our best year ever,’ asserts <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1451/Templon" target="_blank">Daniel Templon</a>, founder of the eponymous gallery in 1966, which boasts two spaces in the Centre Pompidou district, one in Brussels, and another in New York that opened last year. ’2023 seems to be following the same path,’ agrees Anne-Claudie Coric, the gallery’s director.
Most players in the French art market agree that by 2022 Paris had become the most attractive of European capitals, even amid an unstable geopolitical context, post-Covid difficulties, inflation, and the uncertainties of war in Ukraine. And although London remains the European stronghold for auctions, it has suffered from Brexit, which has led several gallerists to turn to the French capital, following the example of <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1103/David-Zwirner" target="_blank">David Zwirner</a>, who opened a space in the Marais district in 2019. ‘Brexit changes the game,’ Zwirner told the Financial Times at the time, ‘[…] my London gallery will be a British gallery, not a European one. I am European and I would like a European gallery, too.’ Zwirner’s artists have been visible as part of the exhibition programs of a number of Parisian institutions, including <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8522/Franz-West" target="_blank">Franz West</a> and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/9857/Alice-Neel" target="_blank">Alice Neel</a> at the Centre Pompidou; <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/11143/Gordon-Matta-Clark" target="_blank">Gordon Matta-Clark</a> at the Jeu de Paume; <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7100/Josef-Albers" target="_blank">Josef</a> and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/16961/Anni-Albers" target="_blank">Anni Albers</a> at the Musée d’Art Moderne; and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7651/Joan-Mitchell" target="_blank">Joan Mitchell</a> at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

London’s <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1316/White-Cube" target="_blank">White Cube</a> followed suit, arriving on Avenue Matignon in 2020. Over the past 2 years, a wave of international gallerists has chosen Paris as their European base, encouraged by the growing number of collectors and artists basing themselves in the city. This includes young talents such as Robin Kid, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8858/Ivan-Argote" target="_blank">Iván Argote</a>, Bianca Bondi, Giulia Andreani, and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/19259/Jo%C3%ABl-Andrianomearisoa" target="_blank">Joël Andrianomearisoa</a>, alongside established figures such as <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/6756/Jim-Dine">Jim Dine</a> and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7428/Anselm-Kiefer" target="_blank">Anselm Kiefer</a>, with <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7510/David-Hockney" target="_blank">David Hockney</a> having opted for Normandy.
‘In terms of the gallery market, Paris ranks second in the world,’ says gallery owner <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1237/Galerie-Nathalie-Obadia" target="_blank">Nathalie Obadia</a>, author of Géopolitique de l'art contemporain (published in 2019 and expanded in 2023). ‘French collectors are active and important, and artists are always very happy to exhibit in Paris,’ says Obadia. ‘Today, collectors know that they will find the same quality in Paris as in New York. Paris has become more international, as we saw with the first edition of Paris + par Art Basel, and we're seeing a real rise in quality.’
<a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1134/Perrotin" target="_blank">Emmanuel Perrotin</a> agrees, noticing a new local dynamism: ‘If a fair like Art Basel has chosen to move to Paris, it’s down to the exceptional dynamism and diversity of the French cultural scene, both public and private. It’s a much more open and collaborative world than it used to be. That’s also the strength of Paris!’ It was recently announced that Colony IM would be buying a significant stake in Perrotin’s gallery, facilitating the further growth of the business internationally. ‘I’ve always favored collective decision making, including in the choice of artists,’ says Perrotin. ‘What I lacked was a shared decision-making process when it came to the business side of things: it’s a real blessing to have professionals whose job it is to work alongside us! The gallery is about to move into another dimension.’

Moreover, the The Art Market Report 2023 points to a ‘considerable uplift in the segment from $500,000 to $1 million,’ and France now seems perfectly placed to capture this market segment.
In recent years, the French capital has stood out for its unrivalled cultural offering. The Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Bourse du Commerce - Pinault Collection, and a growing interest in contemporary art by the city’s major museums, are just a few examples. Adding to this, collector Laurent Dumas’s Fondation Emerige, which focuses on the French art scene, is due to open an art center on Île Seguin in 2026. Not only a first-rate marketplace, Paris has become a platform for exchange, conversation, and experimentation, with a strong international influence.
These factors have prompted major French galleries to solidify their base in the capital by opening additional spaces around Avenue Matignon (including <a href="https://parisplus.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1215/Mennour" target="_blank">Mennour</a>, Perrotin, Galerie Nathalie Obadia, and <a href="https://parisplus.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1254/Almine-Rech" target="_blank">Almine Rech</a>), while powerful foreign galleries are opening Parisian branches. This phenomenon of expansion was highlighted in The Art Market Report 2023 with 9% of the global dealers surveyed operating in multiple locations, compared to 5% in 2021.
It is a trend noted by <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/stories/clement-delepine-director-paris-plus-art-basel-public-program-2023-grand-palais-ephemere" target="_blank">Clément Delépine</a>, the director of Paris+ par Art Basel: ‘France is a market whose global share has risen from 4% to 7% in 20 years. Today, 50% of art transactions in Europe take place in France. Concrete signs of this include the number of galleries opening or expanding. Gallerists show confidence in the French market.’

Newcomers to the city also include Berlin’s <a href="https://parisplus.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1265/Esther-Schipper" target="_blank">Esther Schipper</a>, who opened a space at 16 Place Vendôme in October 2022, and who believes Paris is on the way to regaining the major role it once had. Galleries <a href="https://parisplus.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1153/Hauser-Wirth" target="_blank">Hauser & Wirth</a> and <a href="https://parisplus.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/1214/Mendes-Wood-DM" target="_blank">Mendes Wood DM</a> will also be opening new spaces in time for the second edition of Paris+ par Art Basel this October, the former on Rue François-Ier and the latter on Place des Vosges. For these three latest arrivals, housed in historic buildings, the idea is to open unique and luxurious venues, steeped in history and in keeping with the French art of living.
Marc Payot, President of Hauser & Wirth, is quick to point out that their future Paris space will be ‘unrivalled in elegance.’ ‘Paris is home to a unique and sophisticated public, an incredible concentration of outstanding museums and foundations, and a community of ambitious and astute collectors and patrons – ideal audiences for a rigorous, conceptual program like ours,’ says Payot. ‘What's more, Paris has inspired our artists to such an extent – from those born here like <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/6938/Louise-Bourgeois" target="_blank">Louise Bourgeois</a> and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7643/Pierre-Huyghe" target="_blank">Pierre Huyghe</a>, to those from elsewhere like Barbara Chase-Riboud, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7649/Takesada-Matsutani" target="_blank">Takesada Matsutani</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8563/Alina-Szapocznikow" target="_blank">Alina Szapocznikow</a>, and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/8814/Ed-Clark" target="_blank">Ed Clark</a> – that their careers would be almost unimaginable without it.’
Pedro Mendes, a co-founder of Mendes Wood DM also talks about a special relationship with Paris and artists based in France. ‘Over the years, we have developed a very close bond with French cultural institutions and collections that have believed in our program and supported the careers of many of our artists,’ says Mendes. ‘[This new space is] our chance to give back and recognize a place that has been so generous with us.’ Mendes and co-founder, Matthew Wood, also emphasize the appeal of Paris-based fashion and luxury brands, many of which ‘are committed to contemporary art via collections or collaborations.’ His only concern? ‘The impending art tax, which threatens the continued growth of the art market.’ Mendes is referring here to the VAT rate in France, currently 5.5%, the lowest in Europe, and which could be threatened by a new European directive set to take effect in 2025. The issue is currently being examined by the French government in collaboration with a working group of art professionals, including the director of Paris+ par Art Basel, Clément Delépine.

While the dealer Franck <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/gallery/2003/Applicat-Prazan">Prazan</a> (a member of the Art Basel selection committee) points to a contraction in sales on the secondary market in the first half of 2023 due to a scarcity of supply, he also notes that the great French painters are on a roll. Artists such as <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/7613/Pierre-Soulages">Pierre Soulages</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/10371/Jean-Fautrier" target="_blank">Jean Fautrier</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/19514/Georges-Mathieu" target="_blank">Georges Mathieu</a>, <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/11503/Serge-Poliakoff" target="_blank">Serge Poliakoff</a>, and <a href="https://www.artbasel.com/catalog/artist/15001/Nicolas-de-Sta%C3%ABl" target="_blank">Nicolas De Staël</a> (the focus of a retrospective opening in September at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris) have seen their prices reassessed, an ‘upward movement that goes hand in hand with the refocusing of the Paris market,’ says Prazan. His gallery, which specializes in post-war School of Paris artists, will celebrate its 30th anniversary this fall with a presentation of seven key paintings by Jean Hélion at Paris+ par Art Basel.
<hr>
 Julie Chaizemartin is a journalist and art critic based in Paris. She is a regular contributor to Transfuge, Artpress and Le Quotidien de l’Art. 
Published on August 30, 2023.
All images: Artwork details at Paris+ par Art Basel 2022.

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