London Doubles Down as Paris Shines: Europe's Art Fair Face-Off

Dealer Thaddaeus Ropac has renewed his London gallery lease for another 10 years — a 10-year bet on a city many wrote off after Paris seized the spotlight. His vote of confidence lands just as Europe braces for a double round of fairs: Frieze London, October 14–18, followed by Art Basel Paris, October 21–25.

Three years ago, Ropac started questioning the health of the London market. Mixed auction results in 2022 and 2023 confirmed what he saw as stagnation, while Paris, newly hosting Art Basel, appeared dominant. "London lost part of the market because Paris became very attractive," he told ARTnews. Hauser & Wirth, in the city since 2003, is building a 15,000-square-foot gallery on Mayfair's South Audley Street.

Why are galleries committing to both cities?

"Paris's strength is its blockbuster museum exhibitions, which are attracting the Americans and international collectors," Ropac said. "Many of the American collectors now plan their trips so that they can combine London and Paris."

Zoe Sperling, a partner at Hauser & Wirth London, which represents 15 artists and estates in the UK, put it bluntly: "[Our] artists want to be in London. It's evident that the city's cultural pull remains very powerful." Ropac argued London has replaced Berlin as the city for working artists, which he says has "lost a bit of its attractiveness."

The two fairs now serve distinct functions for dealers. At Frieze, Ropac will show Denzil Forrester, Jordan Casteel, Oliver Beer, Mandy El-Sayegh and Antony Gormley. "Frieze London reflects what's going on in the studios and in the young scene," he said. "We're showing fresh contemporary works versus Paris, where we show important historical works" — by Marcel Duchamp, Lucio Fontana, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.

New York's Ortuzar gallery splits its program the same way: historical work at Frieze Masters, primary-market work in Paris. "We think of the two fairs as one extended fair, split between two different cities in two very different contexts," said partner Kenta Murakami. "In a way, you can start a conversation in London that you might close in Paris."

What are the numbers behind the rivalry?

Last year, the top prices at Art Basel Paris far exceeded those at Frieze. In Paris:

• Hauser & Wirth sold a Gerhard Richter for $23 million
• Pace sold an Amedeo Modigliani for just under $10 million
• David Zwirner sold a Ruth Asawa for $7.5 million

At Frieze, the largest reported sales stayed in the low seven figures.

"If you're looking to sell an expensive work of art at a fair, you're going to choose Art Basel Paris, maybe now above all others," said Bernard LaGrange, senior adviser at Gagosian Art Advisory. "Maybe Art Basel Switzerland, but it's [one of] those two." Adviser Meredith Darrow agreed: "Paris has stolen the thunder of really every art fair, including Basel, Switzerland."

London keeps the edge in scale. Frieze London and Frieze Masters brought more than 280 galleries to Regent's Park last year, against 203 exhibitors at Art Basel Paris. Christie's London 20th- and 21st-century evening sale around Frieze totaled $142.9 million; all four Christie's sales during Art Basel Paris came to $107.4 million.

Paris is closing fast. Christie's Paris total rose 16 percent year on year, and Sotheby's marquee modern and Surrealist sales reached €89.7 million, more than 50 percent up — including a €27 million Modigliani, the most expensive work Sotheby's Paris has ever sold.

Lower price tags in London may have an upside, LaGrange suggested: "Hopefully that allows Frieze to go back to being a place where you can discover what's new and what's exciting, which is what I think people loved going to Frieze to do before. Then it just got a bit stale."

What does it cost to show up?

Frieze London booth fees at Regent's Park run from £597 per square meter (30–50 sq m) up to £671 per square meter (110–130 sq m). The smallest booth costs £17,910 ($23,657); an XXL stand costs £87,230 ($115,219), before furnishing and lighting.

Art Basel Paris charges €880–€1,098.50 per square meter on the ground floor and €724.5–€849 upstairs. First-time exhibitors in the main Galleries section get a 25 percent discount, and sophomore galleries get 15 percent off. This year's edition features a record 12 shared booths — fair director Karim Crippa called it "an edition of renewal and evolution, and we're quite excited about that."

Taxes compound London's costs. Works staying in the UK carry a 20 percent VAT. "Sometimes that amount is enough to be an entire work in itself," said Ryan Stern, a director at Sixty Six gallery. Adviser Arianne Piper said Brexit's end to temporary import fee exemptions has forced Frieze to pivot "from a high-volume transactional hub to a more curated, talent-focused platform."

Zurich gallerist Eva Presenhuber estimates total fair costs have risen about 50 percent over the last decade; her gallery will likely spend between $250,000 and $350,000 on Art Basel Paris this year. "You have to sell at least $1 million just to cover that," she said — usually possible, since fairs account for roughly 30 percent of her gallery's annual sales.

Her clients are nonetheless quieter now. "There's a lot of panic in the world right now, which also reaches our clients, who are getting more and more quiet, and less excited," Presenhuber said. "There's more hesitation, maybe due to overpriced works by younger artists over the last 10 years." She still insists fairs are essential: "More than ever, and if you're not based in New York, then you need to do fairs."

First-time Art Basel Paris exhibitor Mariposa, from New York, is treating the fair as marketing. Its installation of cut-out painted wooden figures by Drake Carr, priced between $10,000 and $15,000, is, in cofounder Alec Smyth's words, "a kind of daring presentation. What you pay for are the eyeballs on the work." The goal, he said, is to break even.

With Christie's and Sotheby's totals climbing in Paris and galleries splitting their inventory between the two capitals, the coming fortnight will test whether London's resurgence — 280 galleries, a $142.9 million Christie's evening — can hold against a fair that now outprices even Basel itself.