“Paris is more attractive than ever for collectors and players in the art world,” says Justine Durrett, senior director in Paris of the Zwirner gallery, which also has offices in New York, London, Hong Kong and soon Los Angeles.

She attributes this "return to the front of the stage" to "the multiplication of new places dedicated to contemporary art (Fondation Vuitton, Lafayette Anticipations, Bourse de Commerce...) in an already very strong institutional ecosystem", carried by museums such as the Center Pompidou or the Palais de Tokyo.

In addition to a "strong program", Ms. Durrett also evokes a "unique dialogue between history and contemporary creation, not only in art but also in fashion, gastronomy, luxury, and the art of living in a general".

The Lafayette Anticipations building in Paris, March 5, 2018 Christophe SIMON AFP / Archives

In less than two years and despite the Covid-19 health crisis, around ten international galleries have set up in Paris, including several "Anglo-Saxon and American, which is quite new", confirms Marion Papillon, president of the professional committee. art galleries, which represents more than 300.

brad pitt

"Brexit has accelerated things [number of actors have left London] but there is a real dynamic: French galleries export better and are also more visible internationally," she adds.

Another strong sign of this new golden age: the arrival in Paris in the autumn of Art Basel, the world leader in contemporary art fairs.

Paris, which had gradually lost its aura since the 1950s, "is once again becoming an extremely strong place in the cartography of contemporary and modern art. London is languishing and New York fears the place taken by the City of Light", observes Kamel Mennour , an international gallery owner who represents some forty artists including Daniel Buren, Ann Veronica Janssens, Anish Kapoor and Martin Parr.

This new era even attracts celebrities.

Passionate about art and architecture, the American actor Brad Pitt is one of these regular VIP visitors.

After going to the Vuitton Foundation to discover the building designed by architect Frank Gehry, he recently surveyed the Bourse de Commerce.

American actor Brad Pitt at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, May 22, 2019 CHRISTOPHE SIMON AFP/Archives

Inaugurated in May in the heart of Paris, the building restored by Japanese architect Tadao Ando houses the private collection of works of art of businessman François Pinault.

It hosts until June, with the Center Pompidou, a retrospective devoted to the contemporary American sculptor Charles Ray.

"In the eyes of Americans, Chinese or Germans, Paris is extremely well off and desirable, it is + the place to be + (+ The place where you have to be +)", insists Mr. Mennour.

"Just after New York", adds Chris Dercon, president of the Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais (RMN-GP), who was behind the choice of Art Basel in Paris for the October slot traditionally occupied by the Fiac, whose future remains unresolved.

"More international than London"

By exporting his brand to France, endowed with a cultural budget of 3.818 billion euros in 2021 (excluding public audiovisual) that many envy him, Marc Spiegler, world director of Art Basel, says he wants to rely on the "dynamism " and the "cultural importance" of Paris, which "no other European city brings together so well" to create an event "of the highest international level".

"Paris is becoming more international than London," says Nicolas Bourriaud, curator and art critic, who has just created a new structure, "Radicants", halfway between the gallery and the art center.

Objective ?

"Produce exhibitions all over the world from Paris and respond to a demand for meaning linking works from the past with emerging subjects".

The Louis Vuitton Foundation, the work of American-Canadian architect Frank Gehry, in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, October 17, 2014 BERTRAND GUAY AFP / Archives

On the market side, if France remains in fourth place in the world behind the United Kingdom, China and the United States with only 7% of the cumulative total of sales, "the results of 2021 show a real renewed attention for the Parisian activity " , indicates the auction house Christie's Paris.

With a total of 409 million euros, including 78.8 million for contemporary art (65.5 million in 2020), it posted its "second best result in 20 years", with 316 new customers (123 in 2020) and bidders from 63 countries (49 in 2020).

© 2022 AFP