The city of light stages its annual high-stakes collision of art, style, and attention. Here’s where to look and what to see.

Under the Grand Palais dome, the city is fully awake. Jet-lagged collectors circulate among hungry dealers and preppy gallerists, all chasing the big sale. By day two, major surrealist works had already changed hands, proving what Paris does best: turn art into theater.

Art Basel Paris returns for its fourth edition with 206 galleries from 41 countries, stretching from the historical to the hyper-present. The art shindig is split into three sectors: Galeries, home to 177 established galleries; Premise, ten curated projects rooted in history or concept; and Emergence, on the balconies of the Nave, highlighting 16 rising artists. New galleries like David Nolan Gallery, Lodovico Corsini, and 47 Canal join the lineup, rounding out the city’s pulse of global contemporary art.

The action doesn’t stop at the fair. For the don’t-miss spectacle — Cai Guo-Qiang ignites the Pompidou on October 22 with “The Last Carnival,” a live pyrotechnic fresco co-created with his AI twin, cAI™ — a farewell in flames to both the museum and the moment. Paris’s museums and foundations are in full swing: Jacques-Louis David at the Louvre, Jean-Baptiste Greuze at the Petit Palais, Georges de la Tour at the Musée Jacquemart-André, and Sargent lighting up the Musée d’Orsay. The Fondation Cartier unveils its new home near the Palais-Royal, while the Bourse de Commerce dives into Minimalism.

“Art Basel Paris continues to prove Paris’s gravity in the cultural landscape,” said fair director Clément Delépine. “It reflects the city’s singular ability to hold both tradition and transformation.”

Across the city the pulse gets looser: the 7 Rue Froissart fair, Tyler Mitchell’s photography at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, and the Cinémathèque marking 40 years since Orson Welles’s death. Whether under the Grand Palais dome or across the arrondissements, Paris doesn’t just show art, it’s staging desire. Here are ADs Must Art Basel Paris 2025.