Shortly after Art Basel Miami Beach opened its doors to top-tier collectors at 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, financier Leon Black walked into the booth of Acquavella Galleries and said in a booming voice, “There’s a lot of fucking art!”
There was indeed a lot of art all around, starting with perhaps the fair’s most spectacular artwork—a black-and-white Picasso painting of intertwined lovers with a martini glass, Couple with Cup (1969). Priced at $30 million, it was the most expensive artwork in the cavernous Miami Beach Convention Center, where the largest contemporary art fair in the U.S. gathered 286 galleries from 38 countries for its 22nd edition.
Acquavella’s booth with a 1969 Picasso and a 2022 Harumi Klossowska de Rola. Photo: Katya Kazakina
In addition to Black and his wife, Debra, the fair’s opening hours drew top collectors like Steve Wynn and Dan Sundheim, actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Jared Leto, the singer Jewel, and Dutch DJ Martin Garrix. By the end of the day, reported sales included a $2 million Keith Haring (at Gladstone), a $4.75 million David Hammons (Hauser and Wirth), a $1.5 million Suzanne Jackson (Ortuzar), and $1 million Sam Gilliam (Pace).
The afterglow of Art Basel Paris, along with a “Trump bump,” are fueling the return of art market confidence, dealers, collectors and advisers said. The market seems ready to put the downturn of the past two years behind it and usher in another up cycle. You can toast that on-site with a $34 “Art Basel Margarita,” collectible cup included, by Casa Dragones.
“There’s really good energy now,” said Miami real estate developer Craig Robbins. “The galleries brought amazing material. Things are on a very positive trend.”
A view of Gagosian booth’s with works by Maurizio Cattelan at Art Basel Miami Beach 2024. Photo: Katya Kazakina
Mega-dealer Larry Gagosian said that “collectors are taking their time,” even as his gallery sold a large new piece by Maurizio Cattelan, titled Meat, depicting flowers sprinkled with bullet holes, priced at $850,000. “There is an appetite for great things and the market feels like it’s coming back,” Gagosian said in a statement, listing sales of works by Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Jenny Saville, and Jeff Koons.
Higher-priced works remained unsold, including Gagosian’s $10 million Warhol, a silver Ethel Scull (1963) painting, and Cattelan’s 7-foot-tall middle finger carved from white Carrara marble and priced at €2.2 million (about $2.31 million). At Pace, a $9.5 million Joan Mitchell from 1958 also lingered. “We are not giving any discounts,” Marc Glimcher said.
Many works that moved quickly had been pre-sold.
“We haven’t sold this much off the previews since 2022,” said Thaddaeus Ropac, listing as sold a $1 million sculpture by Georg Baselitz, a $1.1 million Sturtevant from 1967, and a $650,000 Robert Longo.
Wangechi Mutu’s sculpture at Gladstone. Photo: Katya Kazakina
Large sculptures popped up at most big booths. Victoria Miro had a massive Yayoi Kusama from 2015 priced at $5.5 million. Paula Cooper brought a towering $950,000 Mark di Suvero swing.
Gladstone quickly sold Nyoka (2022), a hefty bronze bowl filled with snake skins by Wangechi Mutu, priced at $750,000. Galerie Nara Roesler sold Julio Le Parc’s dazzling mobile made of cascading gold plates, Mobile losange doré (2024), for €375,000 ($395,000).
On the ground, the first couple of hours seemed slow, prompting private art dealer James Hedges to describe the event as “a little staid.” No collectors were seen sprinting to grab artworks.
“It’s not as frothy, but it’s steady,” said Seattle-based art adviser Pablo Schugurensky. “Dealers made a great effort to present quality.”
At Matthew Marks, Schugurensky spotted a small Brice Marden print priced at $16,000 and bought it for a client. “Always look into the closet,” he advised.
Two women looking at a Joan Mitchell painting at Pace’s booth. Photo: Katya Kazakina
Collector Lauren Taschen said that she discovered a work by Rachel Feinstein, the subject of a solo show at the Bass Museum up the road in Miami Beach, tucked away in Gagosian’s closet and was thinking about acquiring it. She said she had just bought a painting by Louise Bonnet from Petzel and a Danielle Mckinney from Marianne Boesky after waiting a year and a half for one to become available. “I am patient,” she said.
Dealers may have to be patient, as well, when it comes to sales. Some high-end secondary market booths displayed works they recently showed (and presumably didn’t sell) in Paris, including Tom Wesselmann paintings at Van de Weghe and Vedovi galleries (which is somewhat surprising, given the Pop artist’s high-profile retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris).
Lower-priced works moved a lot faster, as they always do. Michael Kohn sold two paintings by Nir Hod priced at $24,000 each. Several small paintings by Gideon Rubin, priced from $8,000 to $48,000, sold at Anat Egbi and Karsten Greve.
Paintings by Gideon Rubin at Galerie Karsten Greve. Photo: Katya Kazakina
Miami’s Frederic Snitzer gallery staged a solo booth by Hernan Bas, whom he’s shown for 22 years. Every one of the 13 pieces sold, with prices ranging from $23,000 for a work on paper to $400,000 for a large painting. The artist also shows with galleries in New York, London, Paris, and Zurich, and for Snitzer, the booth was a way of staying competitive.
“If we have a solo gallery show in Miami during Art Basel, maybe 50 people will see it,” he said of his space, which is just four miles away from the fair. “I spent a lot of money to be here so the whole world sees it.”
