The Fairs

The week opens in London and closes at the Grand Palais. In between, the Paris satellites open on Tuesday, October 20, three days before the main fair, which is why collectors on a short trip often start at the Quai de Valmy or the Monnaie de Paris and finish at the Grand Palais.

Grand Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008. The fifth edition has 211 exhibitors from 41 countries and territories: 183 in Galeries, 16 in Emergence (solo presentations by younger artists, on the balconies around the central nave) and 12 in Premise (historically focused projects, now in the Salon Seine). The fair’s public entrance is on Avenue Winston Churchill, and Square Jean Perrin is a new entrance this year, according to ArteFuse. Counts circulated in May gave 206 exhibitors, which is where some listings still stand; the fair’s June release gives 211.

Access follows the usual Art Basel pattern, with the times from the fair’s press dossier. The Avant-Première on October 20 is by invitation. Preview Days are October 21 (10 am to 8 pm) and October 22 (11 am to 2 pm). The public Vernissage is October 22, 2 to 8 pm. Public days are October 23 to 25, 11 am to 7 pm.

Guided tours in English or French run Thursday through Sunday for groups of up to 12, led by art historians and critics. Public tours are Friday to Sunday, bought online or at the Welcome Desk by the main entrance on Avenue Winston Churchill, and need a valid fair ticket.

Getting there. The nearest Metro stations are Champs-Élysées–Clemenceau (lines 1 and 13) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (lines 1 and 9); RER C stops at Invalides, and several bus lines, including the 42, pass nearby, per the tourist office and Slash Paris. Listings disagree on the street number: the dossier says Avenue Winston Churchill, the tourist office says 9 Avenue du Général Eisenhower, and one hotel guide gives both 3 Avenue Eisenhower and 7 Avenue Winston Churchill. Go by the entrance printed on your ticket. Address varies by source

Paris Internationale. The 12th edition is at 187–189 Quai de Valmy, near the Louis Blanc métro. The fair is nomadic. Its main list has 59 galleries, from Paris, Mexico City, Athens, Shanghai, Berlin and elsewhere. A special project, Second Nature, brings seven Seoul galleries together under the Next: Korea Galleries banner, and the AlUla Contemporary Art Museum presents Ayman Zedani’s In the Bellies of the Rock. The building has no lifts; upper floors are reached by stairs, and the ground floor, with six galleries and the Korean project, is step-free.

Asia Now. The 12th edition of the Paris fair for artists and galleries from Asia moves to the Monnaie de Paris. It was founded in 2015 by Alexandra Fain, and shows historical and emerging artists. Tickets are booked online.

Design Miami.Paris. The Paris edition returns to L’hôtel de Maisons, in the 7th. Tuesday October 20 is by invitation, with a Members Preview from 10 am to 3 pm and a Collectors Preview from 3 to 7 pm. The fair’s page names no exhibitors yet.

Post, a small curatorially minded fair that has become part of Los Angeles’ Frieze week, takes its first international edition to Paris from October 19 to 25. It occupies two buildings facing each other at 74 and 79 Rue du Temple, one a hôtel particulier that shares a courtyard with Marian Goodman’s Paris gallery. Chris Sharp, who runs the fair and a gallery of his own, expected about 34 invited galleries, each with a solo or two-person stand, at a cost to exhibitors of USD 6,000. Admission is free with advance registration, The Art Newspaper reported in July.

“The main fair is incredibly competitive and hard to get into, and also really expensive.”

Chris Sharp, founder of Post, to The Art Newspaper

AKAA, the fair for African contemporary art and design, is at the Carreau du Temple in the 3rd. The Outsider Art Fair gathers more than 15 international galleries at the Bastille Design Center and shares its program with the Halle Saint Pierre, the tourist office says. Paris Photo, the photography fair, is listed for November 12 to 15 and sits outside this week.