Five Must-See Art and Design Shows in Paris During Art Basel

It’s only in its fifth year, but Art Basel Paris has quickly become an unmissable week in the aesthete calendar. Held at the sprawling Grand Palais in the center of the city, the fair draws cognoscenti from around the world to peruse what the top galleries have on offer. And with a backdrop like Paris, they certainly can’t complain.

Basel’s success soon drew Design Miami, which has staged a Paris edition at L’Hôtel de Maisons since 2023. There’s plenty to see at either venue of course, but the city is also rife with art and design shows that are worth catching while you’re in town. Here, we’ve gathered a few favorites.

Miu Miu and Alice Diop at Palais d’Iéna

Miu Miu has been named the official partner of Art Basel Paris’ public program for the third year. To mark the occasion, founder and creative director Miuccia Prada called upon filmmaker Alice Diop to create Geste de Consolation, an exhibition at the Palais d’Iéna, a government building where Miu Miu’s runway shows are also held.

The title translates to Gesture of Consolation. In the exhibition, Diop explores how Black women artists are repairing the fetishizing gaze constructed by centuries of art history. As a counterpoint, Diop gathers the voices that have, in her words, healed and nourished her. The journey begins with a photograph by South African artist Zanele Muholi, and continues with a film by Diop herself, as well as work from many others. At the exhibition’s center is a performance area where pieces by Audre Lorde, Zora Neale Hurston, Zadie Smith, and many more are read aloud. Its final piece is Simone Leigh’s Mami Wata, a monumental bronze statue that stands 16 feet tall.

9 Pl. d’Iéna, Paris
Monday to Sunday, 10 AM to 7 PM

Augusta Hoffman and Dominique Knowles at De Gournay

Interior designer Augusta Hoffman has brought her warm, elegant aesthetic to townhouses and apartments across New York’s tristate area—now, she’s taking that philosophy to Paris. The exhibition is a collaboration with her sister, gallerist Hannah Hoffman of Hoffman Donahue; together, they’re presenting Dominique Knowles’ paintings in the City of Light for the first time. You’ll find the show in wallcovering brand de Gournay’s lavish apartment.

A pair of designs from the brand’s Chinoiserie collection serve as a colorful backdrop. Augusta Hoffman paired the work with a curated selection of furniture and objects, making the space feel like a fully realized apartment, and bucking the tradition of the white cube showrooms and booths that abound elsewhere.

15 Rue des Saints-Pères, Paris
Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM

Sunday, 12 to 5 PM

Ibrahim Mahama at Fondation Cartier

Art Basel coincides with Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama’s first major exhibition in Paris. Held at Fondation Cartier, The Harvest Season references three art centers that Mahama established in northern Ghana. The show also includes work by nine other African artists and collectives.

Mahama’s installations, like much of his work, are constructed with found materials. The Ghost Parliament is an empty parliament chamber made of salvaged domestic objects, and invites the visitor to reflect on the ghosts of political institutions that failed—or that never existed in the first place. Similarly, Things Fall Apart reconstructs an old glass bottle factory in Ghana that Mahama purchased; the artwork uses the factory’s original remnants. It’s a look back at Ghana’s industrial history, as well as its future.

2 Place du Palais-Royal, Paris
Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday to Sunday, 11 AM to 7 PM
Friday, 11 AM to 10 PM

Santa Gaia Pilens and Inderjeet Sandhu at Æquo Gallery

Æquo is based out of Mumbai, and its exhibitions explore contemporary Indian craft and design. For the week of Art Basel, the gallery presents It Remains, a story of two artists in dialogue: Santa Gaia Pilens and Inderjeet Sandhu. The show centers on transformation, and what remains in the aftermath—Pilens shows original textile murals; Sandhu continues his Tidal Fragments sculpture series with works made of shell and mother-of-pearl. Sandhu shapes these fragments into vessels, while Pilens brings her textile know-how to embroidery ateliers in Mumbai. Both transformative processes yield something new, but still connected to what came before.

48 Rue Mazarine, Paris
Tuesday to Saturday, 11 AM to 7 PM

Jordan Casteel at Thaddaeus Ropac

Jordan Casteel’s first solo exhibition in France runs throughout Art Basel. The show, Winter Sun, brings together new paintings that use a more earthy palette than the artist’s preexisting oeuvre. The work reflects on dormancy, renewal, and grief, and depicts a wide range of subjects, from Casteel’s family and friends to strangers. The most intimate is Weighted (for Clyde), a painting of Casteel holding her newborn against her chest.

7 Rue Debelleyme, Paris
Tuesday to Saturday, 10 AM to 7 PM