After a triumphant return to the Grand Palais in 2025, from 9 to 12 April 2026 Art Paris will once again take place in the majestic nave and on the balconies of the recently renovated gem of Belle Epoque architecture. The 28^th edition will host around 170 French and international galleries, offering an ambitious programme without losing its regional and cosmopolitan character in Paris, a city undergoing a full artistic renaissance.

Art Paris is committed to addressing the issues of our contemporary world, exploring themes entrusted to guest curators. Accompanied by a catalogue presenting the work of each selected artist, these themes guide visitors throughout the fair.

In 2026, two themes take central stage:

Babel – Art and Language in France by Loïc Le Gall

Babel – Art and Language in France transports the public to the heart of a fertile creative intermingling. The many different languages spoken in the famous tower of biblical renown meant people were unable to understand each other, leading to dispersion and the need to create new forms of communication. Following this theme, the twenty artists selected from among the participating galleries explore the wealth and enigmas of the systems of signs and language structures that prevail in French contemporary art. The title is also a nod to Art & Language, the influential conceptual art group whose radical approach questioned the nature of art as seen through the prism of language, logic and philosophy.

From familiar letters used in ways other than their primary function to enigmatic signs that resist immediate understanding, this themed visit sets out to plumb French contemporary art’s obsession with language. Above and beyond its utilitarian aspects, language also provides a means of visual expression and is, as such, an endless creative playground. Artists split language into fragments to be superposed or rewritten, revealing hidden poetry and conceptual power. Just like the deconstruction at work in the semiotic theory of Roland Barthes, the works of these artists, ranging from figurative to abstract, invite us to delve deeper into an archaeology of meaning. This themed visit is an invitation to rethink our relationship with words and symbols and the way in which, both individually and collectively, we construct and decode the reality of our surroundings.

^{Art historian and exhibition curator Loïc Le Gall has been the director of the Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain in Brest since 2019, having previously worked at the Centre National des Arts Plastiques and Centre Pompidou from 2013 to 2019. In parallel, from 2018 to 2019, he was in charge of Bonnevalle, an initiative in favour of young artists based in Noisy-le-Sec. Since 2011, he has organised around fifty exhibitions in different venues around France and abroad, including solo shows by Reda Boussella, Michele Ciacciofera, Rafael Domenech, Alia Farid, Apostolos Georgiou, Fanny Gicquel, Han Bing, Nathanëlle Herbelin, Laura Henno, Hoda Kashiha, Liang Yuanwei, Caroline Mesquita, Hanako Murakami, Luiz Roque, Sean Scully, Achraf Touloub and Philomena Williamson…. He is a regular contributor to contemporary art journals, books and catalogues.}

Reparation by Alexia Fabre

Alexia Fabre sets out to explore contemporary art through the perspective of reparation, taking as her starting point twenty international artists selected from among the participating galleries. Reparation is a broad term whose accepted meaning differs in scope and sense from one artist to another, depending on questions of culture and time. By making connections between the past, present and future, reparation evokes notions such as care, kindness and time spent preserving objects, ideas, people and stories. It aims to put snippets and fragments back together, while treating both physical and symbolic wounds. It hints at injuries, wars, absences, suffering and oblivion, alluding to silences and the injustices of history, as well as the desire to project this new and “entirely” reconstructed element into the future. Reparation conveys the idea of restoring oneself, restoring a story, or a reality that once was. It can be visible, highlighting its existence by a scar, or transparent. It can be a master of illusion and disappear, effacing its reality. Reparation permeates both the personal and private sphere and the state of the world itself, sometimes forging ties between the two. If the notions of debt and compensation are one sense of the term, reparation signifies above all resistance, resilience and reinvention. It is the implementation of a relationship that champions the desire to pursue further, a desire to make something last that expresses a need for dialogue and understanding with the recipient of reparation ; sometimes even a dialogue with oneself.

^{Alexia Fabre graduated from the École Nationale du Patrimoine and went on to become curator at the Musée Départemental des Hautes-Alpes in Gap in 1993. She was recruited at the end of 1998 by the Département du Val-de-Marne to lead the project for a new contemporary art museum, the MAC VAL, for which she drafted the scientific and cultural project (2003-2005). Amongst other activities, Alexia Fabre was artistic director of the Nuit Blanche Paris in 2009 and 2011 (together with Frank Lamy) and the Biennale l’Art de la Joie in Quebec in 2017. She co-curated La Lune – du voyage réel aux voyages imaginaires at the Rmn-Grand Palais in 2019 alongside Philippe Malgouyres and was the president of Videomuseum, the professional network of public collections of modern and contemporary art, from 2018 to 2022. She has taught at the École du Louvre and has been a member of the Musée National d’Art Moderne acquisitions committee, associate curator at Grand Paris Express, president of the Prix Dauphine pour l’Art Contemporain and a member of the Prix Emerige. From 2022 to March 2025, she directed the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, where she defended the values of diversity and inclusivity, the recognition of artists and their implication in society and present-day issues. From September 2024 to January 2025, she curated the 17th Biennale de Lyon – Les voix des fleuves / Crossing the water.}

Promises: a sector focussing on young galleries and emerging artists

The Promises section is dedicated to galleries established less than ten years ago. It will welcome 25 galleries and offer a forward-looking insight into cutting-edge contemporary art. Participating galleries may present up to three artists. This section is supported by the fair, allowing for reduced exhibitor fees, with an all-inclusive rate of €10,000 (excluding VAT) for a 20m² booth. The Promises section is located in the southern balconies of the Grand Palais. Marc Donnadieu, member of the Art Paris selection committee and independent exhibition curator, will oversee the curatorial direction of the Promises section. This section also benefits from prominent visibility across the fair’s communication channels and promotional materials.

^{Marc Donnadieu is an independent exhibition curator and art critic. He has been curator in chief at Photo Élysée (Musée Cantonal pour la Photographie, Lausanne), after previously working as curator of contemporary art at LaM Lille Métropole Musée d’Art Moderne, d’Art Contemporain et d’Art Brut (2010-2017) and director of the Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain de Haute-Normandie (1999-2010). He has curated or co-curated a number of major exhibitions, both solo shows and themed exhibits in the field of contemporary photography, drawing practices, present-day representations of the body in art, identity processes at work in society today, the relationship between art and architecture and between photography and art brut. He has been a member of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art (AICA) since 1997 and has contributed to numerous French and international periodicals, including Art Press with which he has been working since 1994. He has also taken part in the elaboration of several dozen catalogues, monographs and themed publications in the fields of the visual arts, architecture, design and fashion.}

Solo Show: in favor of monographic exhibitions

Art Paris actively encourages the presentation of monographic exhibitions throughout the fair in the general and Promises sections. These solo shows offer visitors the opportunity to discover—or rediscover in depth—the work of modern, contemporary, or emerging artists. Solo Show receive dedicated attention in the fair’s promotional campaigns and communications.

French Design Art Edition: a sector devoted to design and contemporary decorative arts

After a successful launch in 2025, Art Paris is partnering once again with Jean-Paul Bath and Sandy Saad, directors of Le FRENCH DESIGN to present a platform dedicated to contemporary design and decorative arts within the context of a modern and contemporary art fair. This section will bring together around twenty exhibitors (interior designers, designers, design companies and galleries specialising in design), located on the northern balconies of the Grand Palais’s nave.

The BNP Paribas Banque Privée Prize "A Focus on the French Scene"

Since 2024, Art Paris has joined forces with BNP Paribas Private Bank to launch the BNP Paribas Banque Privée Prize "A Focus on the French Scene" to reinforce its support of the French art scene. The prize, worth €40,000, will be awarded to an artist living and working in France from among those selected by guest curator Loïc Le Gall as part of its focus Babel – Art and Language in France. There are no age restrictions, and the award will recognize the artist’s career achievements. A prestigious jury will be convened to select the winner.

The jury members: Loïc Le Gall, director of Passerelle Centre d’art contemporain in Brest and Art Paris 2026 guest curator; Valérie Duponchelle, journalist and art critic; Christine Macel, Art and Science Advisor to the President, Musée des Arts Décoratifs; Nicolas Otton, director BNP Paribas Banque Privée France; Alfred Pacquement, independent exhibition curator; Guillaume Piens, Art Paris fair director; Floriane de Saint-Pierre, president of the Amis du Centre Pompidou.

The Her Art Prize: an international reference award for Women Artists in partnership with Marie Claire and Boucheron

Initiated by Marie Claire, a leading magazine committed to supporting women's causes, and launched in partnership with Boucheron in 2025, the Her Art Prize aims to highlight outstanding women artists.

A distinguished jury will select a winner from among the women artists represented by galleries participating in the 2026 edition of the fair. The winner will receive a €30,000 prize, awarded by Boucheron during a special evening event at the Grand Palais on Saturday 11 April 2026. In addition, Marie Claire and Art Paris will organize an international media campaign to promote the winning artist’s work. The prize celebrates both an exceptional career and a body of work that pushes artistic boundaries.

Finalists for the Her Art Prize will be selected by Marion Vignal, art consultant, curator, and contributor to Marie Claire, in collaboration with Guillaume Piens, Director of Art Paris.

Art Paris: the first sustainably designed art fair

Art Paris was the first art fair in 2022 to develop a sustainable approach to its organisation based on a life cycle assessment (LCA)*. This pioneering approach made possible thanks to the help of Karbone Prod, will be renewed in 2026.

Paris: the place to be!

Paris is in the midst of an exceptional period of cultural and artistic renaissance illustrated by the opening of new galleries and venues, the renovation of existing cultural institutions and the inauguration of new ones. More than ever, the City of Light is asserting its role as “the place to be” for contemporary art. The activities on offer as part of the VIP programme, reserved for collectors and art professionals bear witness to the transformation of Paris’s art scene.

Making contemporary art accessible to all

Art Paris is dedicated to making contemporary art accessible to the widest audience, offering some 169 guided tours of the fair as well as a number of specific tools, in particular its elaborate yet eminently practical website which presents a virtual visit of the fair and filters allowing visitors to search for works by artist, price, geographical provenance and technique...