By Louise Daniel
There’s always something happening in Paris and perhaps that’s what makes this city endlessly magnetic. At the close of October 2025, as the dust of Fashion Month settled, Paris welcomed Art Week, a quieter yet no less dynamic celebration of creativity. The city became an open canvas for artistic contemplation. Think vernissages, gallery openings, and large-scale fairs like Art Basel at the Grand Palais offering a glimpse into the evolving spirit of 21st century artistry.
Vernissage at Artcurial
Artcurial, one of Paris’s most storied auction houses, set the tone for the week with Selected Night. As part of the Nocturne Saint-Honoré Matignon, the Hôtel Marcel Dassault transformed into a living dialogue of modern and contemporary expression, from Degas to Banksy, Kosuth to Hiquily.
The annual exhibition by the French Center of Design, The French Collection 2025, curated by Kira Hosany, explored craftsmanship through the lens of innovation. Among the highlights, Erwan Boulloud’s “Fétish II” (2022), which is a sculptural cabinet forged from charred wood, bronze, and a gilded interior encrusted by vintage objects, embodied sculptural resilience in an avant-garde light. Nearby, Marie-Victoire Winckler’s Totem Collection, a series of hand-blown glass and ceramic fixtures, illuminated the relationship between light and form. Both artists demonstrated how the level of artisanal craft in France has elevated to a poetic degree that carries transformation through innovative craftsmanship—a growing dialogue central to contemporary French design.
In Situ by Charles Zana
Inside a 19th century apartment once home to the Swedish Circle, Charles Zana unveiled In Situ: a study in domestic architecture and material harmony. Evolving Charles Zana’s universe of design, over thirty pieces of furniture and objects were presented in conversation with artworks curated by Paul Calligaro. The Sara Sofa and Rimbaud Two Rocking Chair, Zana’s first works using lacquer, grounded the exhibition in understated precision. A nearby Thomas Ruff portrait hung over Zana’s Opium Tables, showing the essential harmony between art and space. Lighting played a defining role, with sculptural pieces such as the Attilio Snake Wall Lamp and the Medusa Suspension Light emphasizing Zana’s ability to capture the potential of light and materiality.
Acne Paper x Peter Schlesinger
At the Acne Paper Gallery in the Palais Royal Gardens, the intimate dialogue of Acne Papers between art and publishing continued as it expanded the brand’s ongoing pursuit for creative expression. The exhibition featured enough of Peter Schlesinger’s sculptural exploration of form. His work challenges our perception of the human form and our dynamic with the natural world. With ceramic works such as the Man with Forked Tree and Three Cypress, there was a display of humankind’s complex and growing connection with nature’s archetypes as each work was rendered in glazed stoneware. Schlesinger’s figures felt timeless yet immediate, their quiet gestures echoing the sensual restraint that defines Acne’s creative identity.
Centre Pompidou’s Farewell Before Renovation
Before closing for a five-year restoration, the Centre Pompidou hosted one final evening of artistic convergence. The launch of the STWD x Pleasures collection by Pull & Bear, staged within a space designed by Arnaud Selve — also behind the Chanel SS26 set — reflected a new era of multidisciplinary collaboration. The event felt both celebratory and nostalgic, a poignant take on the Pompidou’s legacy as a meeting point between art, youth culture, and experimentation.
A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE x Eugene Kangawa
Innovation met poetry at A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE, where the house collaborated with artist Eugene Kangawa. Anchored in Miyake’s A Piece of Cloth philosophy, Kangawa’s installation—designed by Tsuyoshi Tane and his studio ATTA—turned light into texture and fabric into architecture. Layers of woven material created shifting shadows, an evocation of breath and motion. It was an impactful meditation on the transformative potential of the APOC philosophy, the kind that lives quietly in the details.
Art Basel at the Grand Palais
At the heart of it all, Art Basel filled the Grand Palais Éphémère with vibrant energy as it brought the 22,000 square-meter space alive. Over 206 galleries from around the world presented a panorama of contemporary thought, from experimental abstraction to conceptual sculpture. Among the standouts were NYMPHOSE by Jeanne Vicérial, Le Château de Gilles de Rais by Niki de Saint Phalle, and Ballerina in a Skull by Salvador Dalí. Together, they illustrated the movement of art that oscillates between the past and the future, a necessary current that runs through the evolution of today’s art world.
Ending Reflections: A Toast to Art Week
There is a quiet but powerful movement unfolding within the art world; one that runs parallel to fashion, architecture, and design. Each exhibition, each vernissage, serves as a reminder of how contemporary creativity continues to evolve, mirroring the complexities of our time. Paris, in its eternal rhythm, remains the epicenter of this dialogue. Here, beauty exists as a reflection of the human spirit that is fluid, fragile, and profoundly unyielding. A toast, then, to the city that keeps teaching us how to see and feel through the world of creation.