Signals / 08 Oct 2026
Paris now gets the big pictures. Advisers say Art Basel Paris has passed both Frieze London and the original Swiss fair as the place to sell expensive work, and last year's results support them: a $23 million Gerhard Richter at Hauser & Wirth's booth, against Frieze sales that topped out in the low seven figures. London is keeping the studios and young galleries, with Thaddaeus Ropac renewing its lease and Hauser & Wirth building in Mayfair, while Eva Presenhuber will close her Vienna space in December, citing a slow local market and rising costs. Also on today's page: the Fluxus artist Takako Saito, who died in Düsseldorf last year, and a 39-artist survey of post-war Japanese women artists at Mudam Luxembourg.
Advisers now rank Art Basel Paris above Frieze London and Art Basel in Switzerland as the fair for selling expensive work, a year after Hauser & Wirth sold a $23M Richter at its Paris booth.
Art Basel Paris overtakes Frieze London and Art Basel in Switzerland as advisers' first choice for placing high-value work
For anyone consigning or buying at the top of the market, Paris is now where the most expensive fair material is likely to appear, and this year's edition will show whether the shift holds.
market shift · Blue-chipTakako Saito, the Fluxus artist known for her participatory chess sets, boxes and books, and a collaborator of Dieter Roth, died in Düsseldorf in 2025
Future supply now depends on how her estate and galleries such as OSMOS manage the work; how much exists and how it is placed is not yet clear, and nothing here calls for haste.
artist milestone · Growth · Takako SaitoEighty Gertrude Abercrombie paintings have sold above $100,000 at auction since Karma's 2018 show, most beating their high estimates
Eight years of repeated six-figure results show real depth in her market; owners have support under their holdings, while new buyers should expect estimates to understate where hammer prices land.
price trend · Value · Gertrude AbercrombieRosenberg & Co. opens 'An Unbound Creativity,' the largest New York gallery show of Esphyr Slobodkina's abstractions since her death in 2002
Renewed attention so far comes from one gallery and editorial coverage, with no museum show or auction test yet; worth following whether institutions pick up the thread.
retrospective · Discovery · Esphyr SlobodkinaEva Presenhuber will close her Vienna gallery when the lease ends in December, citing a sluggish local market and rising costs
A regional retreat by a Zurich-based dealer, opened in 2022; it reflects cost pressure on secondary European outposts and does not change the standing of the gallery's artists.
gallery move · Blue-chipMudam Luxembourg's 'Kaihō' gathers more than 120 works by 39 post-war Japanese women artists, with a Phaidon catalogue
A museum survey with a major catalogue gives lesser-known names a scholarly reference point; whether individual markets respond will depend on follow-up solo shows and acquisitions.
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