Frieze London and Art Basel Paris 2026: Paris Draws Over 200 Exhibitors from 41 Countries and Regions, Including Three Tokyo Galleries

In October 2026, major art fairs followed one after another in London and Paris. In London, Frieze London and Frieze Masters were held in The Regent’s Park from October 14 to 18. In Paris, the invitation-only preview of Art Basel Paris began at the Grand Palais on October 21, with public days from October 23 to Sunday, October 25. According to the organizer, Paris brought together more than 200 exhibitors from 41 countries and regions. Based on the official websites and press materials of Art Basel and Frieze, this article covers the dates, venues, scale and programs of the two fairs, as well as the participation of Japanese galleries.

For Japanese galleries, too, autumn is a season of back-to-back fairs at home and abroad. According to the official website of Taka Ishii Gallery, which has spaces in Roppongi, Tokyo, and in Kyoto, the gallery exhibited at Frieze Los Angeles, Art Basel Hong Kong, Art Basel in Basel and Frieze Seoul in 2026, and took part in Tokyo Gendai, held at PACIFICO Yokohama from September 11 to 13. In October it exhibited at Art Basel Paris. Dates of major fairs and art festivals in Japan are listed in our art fair and art festival calendar, and the event connecting museums and galleries in Tokyo is introduced in our article on Art Week Tokyo 2026.

Art Basel Paris: More than 200 exhibitors at the Grand Palais for the fifth edition

2026 marks the fifth edition of Art Basel Paris. According to the official exhibitor list, more than 200 exhibitors from 41 countries and regions took part. Nearly 30 of them were participating for the first time, and more than 60 galleries operate in France. The venue is the Grand Palais in Paris’s 8th arrondissement (Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris). The schedule was as follows (organizer’s announcement).

• Preview (by invitation): Wednesday, October 21, 10:00–20:00; Thursday, October 22, 11:00–14:00

• Vernissage (ticket or invitation): Thursday, October 22, 14:00–20:00

• Public days (ticket or invitation): Friday, October 23 – Sunday, October 25, 11:00–19:00 daily

Exhibitors are divided into three sectors: “Galeries,” in which galleries show the range of their programs; “Emergence,” which introduces emerging galleries and artists; and “Premise,” which presents highly original curatorial proposals.

Art Basel is a fair founded in 1970 by gallerists in Basel, and it now holds modern and contemporary art fairs in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, Paris and Qatar. In its half-year results announcement on September 17, 2026, MCH Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, named the Art Basel fairs as one of its core businesses and said the first Art Basel Qatar had supported its growth.

The 2026 program: Video in a rotunda and rehangs during the fair

In 2026, the organizer incorporated the Grand Palais’s circular Rotonde d’Antin into the Art Basel Paris program for the first time. There, GENER8ION, formed by producer and composer Surkin and film director Romain Gavras, shows its audiovisual installation “GOD HATES SPACE” on a 12 m double-sided screen. It was open free of charge from Thursday, October 22 to Sunday, October 25, via Entrance 4. It is Art Basel’s first collaboration with Live Nation, and it is presented by Art Basel Paris, Live Nation France and Iconoclast Music.

“Oh La La!,” the rehang during the fair, is an initiative in which participating galleries reconfigure their booths with new works over two days, Friday and Saturday. According to Art Basel’s official website, the 2026 edition had actor Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, known for the Netflix series “Emily in Paris,” as artistic director, with the theme “Myths and Legends.” Forty-five galleries took part, showing works by Nina Childress, Leonora Carrington, Ed Ruscha and others.

Japanese galleries: Three Tokyo galleries in the Galeries sector

The official Art Basel Paris exhibitor list includes three Tokyo galleries in the Galeries sector: Taka Ishii Gallery, Take Ninagawa and Misako & Rosen. Take Ninagawa is located in Higashi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo, and Misako & Rosen in Kita-Otsuka, Toshima-ku, Tokyo (according to each gallery’s official website).

According to Taka Ishii Gallery’s official website, its booth was A15, where it presented works by Sofu Teshigahara in a solo-presentation format, along with works by Cerith Wyn Evans, Shogo Harada, Kaede Nagasawa, Takuma Ogami and Reika Takebayashi. Take Ninagawa gives its Galeries sector booth number as 0.A2 on its official website.

Frieze London and Frieze Masters: Five days in The Regent’s Park

The two London fairs were held in The Regent’s Park from October 14 to 18. In news on its official website, Frieze had said the two fairs would return to The Regent’s Park this October with new curated sections and first-time galleries.

According to Frieze Masters’ official page, the 2026 “Spotlight” section was curated by Devika Singh and Sofia Gotti. “Queering Modernism,” curated by Anke Kempkes, is the fair’s first gallery section devoted to queer visual languages. The “Reflections” section drew inspiration from the London home of Charles Jencks and Maggie Keswick Jencks. The talks program, titled “Breaking the Mould,” ranged from ceramics to expanding the art-historical canon and the future of museum displays. Es Devlin, Grayson Perry and Danh Vo had been announced as speakers.

At Frieze London, Greek artist Theo Triantafyllidis created a new work for the 2026 Frieze London Artist Award, which Frieze describes as a sculpture that serves as a portal to a shared virtual world. In “KAMS: Platform Korea,” Hwang Sueyon showed work using water and sand. The Deutsche Bank lounges at both fairs presented work by Studio Lenca.

In the park, the outdoor sculpture exhibition “Frieze Sculpture” is on view in the English Gardens from Wednesday, September 16 to Sunday, November 1. According to Frieze, it is a free outdoor exhibition featuring 11 artists. The online “Frieze Viewing Room London” was open from October 7 to 23.

Organizers’ wrap-ups: Frieze published on the 19th; Paris closes on the 25th

On October 19, the day after the fairs closed, Frieze published a wrap-up of the two fairs on its official website, “Major Sales and New Discoveries at Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2026.” Its summary says it reports on works sold and visitors’ impressions, and mentions an increase in international visitors and new acquisitions by the Arts Council and Tate.

Art Basel Paris closes on Sunday, October 25. As of that day, the list of press releases on its official website did not include a closing announcement, and figures such as attendance had not been released.

Overview of the two fairs

Fair: Art Basel Paris
Dates: Wednesday, October 21 – Sunday, October 25, 2026 (public days October 23–25, 11:00–19:00)
Venue: Grand Palais (8th arrondissement, Paris, France)
Exhibitors: More than 200 from 41 countries and regions (sectors: Galeries, Emergence, Premise)
Organizer: Art Basel
Official website: https://www.artbasel.com/paris

Fairs: Frieze London, Frieze Masters
Dates: October 14–18, 2026
Venue: The Regent’s Park (London, UK)
Organizer: Frieze
Official website: https://www.frieze.com/

Editor’s perspective

The two fairs enrich their content in different ways. Frieze holds two fairs in the same park during the same period, and Frieze Masters set up sections built around curators and themes: Spotlight, Queering Modernism and Reflections. Art Basel Paris houses three sectors in a single building; in 2026 it added the Rotonde d’Antin to its program and ran Oh La La!, rehanging booths on Friday and Saturday. Changing the displays partway through the public days is also a way to show something different to visitors who come more than once during the fair.

As for the exhibitor lineup, nearly 30 of the more than 200 exhibitors in Paris were first-timers, and more than 60 galleries operate in France. From Japan, three Tokyo galleries took part in the Galeries sector. In 2026, Taka Ishii Gallery exhibited at six fairs, in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Basel, Seoul, Yokohama and Paris, showing how a single gallery circulates among fairs in Asia, Europe and the Americas throughout the year. The organizers are expanding too: Art Basel held its first edition in Qatar in 2026, and Frieze’s official website is announcing “Frieze Abu Dhabi” for Thursday, November 19 – Sunday, November 22.

The “Survey of Global Collecting 2026,” published by Art Basel and UBS on October 8, surveyed 3,100 high-net-worth collectors in 10 markets, including Japan. It found that over the past year 87% had bought from galleries or dealers in some form and 62% had bought at art fairs. As for sources of advice, 58% of respondents used digital sources, and the use of apps and AI tools rose from 4% in 2024 to 22%. The survey was written by Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics. On fairs in Japan, the 2027 edition of Tokyo Gendai is covered in our article on Tokyo Gendai 2027.

Frequently asked questions

What were the public days and hours of Art Basel Paris?

The public days were Friday, October 23 to Sunday, October 25, from 11:00 to 19:00 daily. Wednesday, October 21 and Thursday, October 22 from 11:00 to 14:00 were invitation-only preview days, and October 22 from 14:00 to 20:00 was the vernissage, open with a ticket or invitation. The venue was the Grand Palais in Paris.

Did any Japanese galleries take part?

The official Art Basel Paris exhibitor list includes Tokyo’s Taka Ishii Gallery, Take Ninagawa and Misako & Rosen in the Galeries sector. Taka Ishii Gallery presented works by Sofu Teshigahara in a solo-presentation format (according to the gallery).

Were attendance and sales figures announced?

Frieze published a wrap-up on its official website on October 19, whose summary mentions an increase in international visitors. As of October 25, Art Basel Paris had not announced attendance. This article does not cover sales estimates by trade publications.

*Information as of October 25, 2026. Please check the official websites for the latest information.

*Top image: A still from GENER8ION’s “GOD HATES SPACE” (from Art Basel’s press release)

*This article was compiled by the TOKYO ART SPHERE editorial team based on official announcements and websites of Art Basel, MCH Group and Frieze, and the official websites of exhibiting galleries (as of October 25, 2026).

Text: TOKYO ART SPHERE Editorial Team