Cause for cheer at Art Basel as strong preview-day sales take many galleries by surprise

Geopolitical factors, like war between Israel and Iran, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and escalating military action in Russia and Ukraine, can spook collectors out of shelling out major figures for a work of art, as can stock market turmoil and uncertainty over US tariffs. Still, major international dealers say they did well on the preview day of Art Basel.

Thaddaeus Ropac says his gallery sold Georg Baselitz’s oil painting Hier jetzt hell, dort dunkel dunkel (2012) for €1.8m, James Rosenquist’s Playmate (1966) for $1.8m to a European institution, and Robert Rauschenberg’s Lipstick (Spread) (1981) for $1.5m, as well as dozens of five- and six-figure sales.

“It was unexpected, to be honest,” Ropac says of the successful preview day. “We were cautiously optimistic, but New York was a more difficult period,” he says, referring to fairs there last month. “All the geopolitical crises, the economic crises, the moral crises. You cannot take sales for granted or expect them. But they did happen, and at a speed which I was astonished by,” Ropac adds.

Gagosian, in its 30th year of exhibiting at the Swiss fair, sold work by artists including Georg Baselitz, Maurizio Cattelan, Rachel Feinstein, Nan Goldin, Damien Hirst, Jamian Juliano-Villani and Ewa Juszkiewicz, priced from $30,000 to more than $5m.

“Sales at all price points have been very good, seemingly defying the broader international environment,” the gallery’s founder, Larry Gagosian, said in a statement. “Art has always been a refuge, and both institutions and private collectors are actively looking for buying opportunities.”

David Zwirner reported some of the largest sales of the day, including an untitled 1955 sculpture by Ruth Asawa for $9.5m, a Gerhard Richter painting for $6.8m, and two paintings and two works on paper by Marlene Dumas. The gallery says it placed two new paintings by Dana Schutz for $1.2m and $850,000, respectively.

Peak price for Picasso

Pace brought some of the fair’s most valuable works, including Pablo Picasso’s painting Homme à la pipe assis et amour (1969), priced at $30m—which may be the most expensive piece at Art Basel this year—along with a Joan Mitchell the gallery priced at between $15m and $20m. The heavy hitters at Pace were on reserve by Tuesday afternoon, but the gallery said that bringing the blue-chip work was a vote of confidence in the market and in Art Basel.

The gallery sold Emily Kam Kngwarray’s painting Anooralya—Yam Story (1994) for $450,000. Tate Modern will stage a survey of the late Aboriginal Australian artist’s work in July. Notably, Pace Gallery reported selling every contemporary work on display at its stand, including placing Elmgreen & Dragset’s marble sculpture The Visitor (2025) with the G2 Kunsthalle in Leipzig for $300,000, and Pressure in blue-purple (2025) by Loie Hollowell for $275,000. The gallery’s president and chief executive, Marc Glimcher, says the gallery had sold around two dozen works by Tuesday afternoon: “I’m exhausted. I want a bratwurst,” he said.

Hauser & Wirth says it sold two new canvases by Mark Bradford: Ain’t Got Time To Worry (2025) and Sin and Love and Fear (2025) for $3.5m each, as well as two George Condo paintings, Streets of New York (2025) and The Insanity of the Devil (2025), for $2.4m each. Hauser & Wirth also had a surprise installation not shared before the fair opened: Mark Rothko’s No.6/Sienna, Orange on Wine (1962), the price of which the consignor wishes to be kept private.

I’m very happy to see such a resilient market in difficult and uncertain times

Marc Payout Hauser & Wirth

The gallery also placed Jack Whitten’s Kritiko Spiti (1974-75) for $2m and Louise Bourgeois’s sculpture Couple (2002) for $1.9m to a collector in Asia. “I’m very happy to see such a resilient market in difficult and uncertain times,” says Marc Payot, the president of Hauser & Wirth. “Basel is really proving to remain the absolute leader of the art fairs worldwide.”

A new work by the American painter Mark Bradford, *Ain’t Got Time to Worry*, sold at Hauser & Wirth for $3.5m Photo: David Owens

New York’s David Nolan Gallery—also marking 30 years of participating in the fair—reported strong results from its stand, priced largely between $30,000 and $70,000: work by Barry Le Va, Vian Sora, David Hartt, Albert Oehlen, Antonius Höckelmann, Georg Baselitz and Rodolfo Abularach sold within hours. “The thing that I’ve always liked about Basel and why I keep coming back all these years is that you can show things that are difficult and take a long time to sell, but you will find somebody,” Nolan says. “Not just one person, a bunch of people, who are willing and want to know more, and ask questions. They’re very rigorous.”

A solid start to sales

Art Basel director Vincenzo de Bellis said on Tuesday afternoon that sales so far were solid: “It’s also very reassuring. A lot of people came in—probably nervous, let’s be transparent—but there’s been a lot of [sales] activity starting from the very beginning of the fair.”

De Bellis said that when he visited Art Basel’s second floor, which often hosts some of the fair’s younger, more contemporary stands, several dealers told him they were doing better than last year on average. “It’s a sign that there were many more people on the second floor than in previous years,” he says. “I think it’s very specific, because there’s more people buying at those specific price points that can be targeted to those galleries.” De Bellis added that he had seen price points pulled down across sectors, particularly for primary market work.

Karma gallery reported selling Matthew Wong’s painting The Smoke (2017) for $1.2m; Peter Bradley’s Blue Moon (2022) for $175,000; a new work by Andrew Cranston, A Sicilian Snake (2025), for $250,000; Norman Zammitt’s One (1973), priced at $100,000; and two new works on paper by Jonas Wood at $175,000 and $55,000, respectively. Edel Assanti gallery sold out its solo stand of Lonnie Holley’s work in the Premiere and Unlimited sections, with prices ranging from $15,000 to $200,000. Perrotin sold out work by its artists Mr., Genesis Belanger and Izumi Kato for prices ranging from $30,000 to $250,000, the gallery says.

Before the preview, whether as many American collectors would attend Basel this year was the talk of the night at gallery dinners and show openings. Some dealers said on Tuesday that they knew major collectors from the US who skipped this year. The idea that Art Basel could cannibalise itself with fairs in Paris and Basel is often repeated, but many dealers at the fair were not concerned.

“The big difference is, in Paris, you are distracted by the city and you go to Paris for Paris,” Marc Payot says. “In Basel, you come for the fair. So at this point, at least, it’s really not a competition.”