Art Basel’s 2025 edition will bring together 289 leading galleries from 42 countries and territories, presenting an extraordinary array of works across all media—from painting and sculpture to photography and digital art.
The show will feature an unparalleled lineup of artists, spanning early-twentieth-century Modern pioneers to groundbreaking contemporary talent.
Beyond outstanding presentations in its Galleries, Premiere, Feature, Statements, and Edition sectors, the show will once again push boundaries with 68 monumental works and performances in Unlimited, curated by Giovanni Carmine, Director of the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen. Meanwhile, the Kabinett sector will return to the Basel show, offering 22 curated highlights within exhibitors’ main booths—further elevating the depth and dialogue of the fair.
A must-see highlight at this year’s show, renowned artist Katharina Grosse will take over the Messeplatz and the surrounding structures, transforming the space into a vivid chromatic environment. Curated by Natalia Grabowska, Curator at Large, Architecture and Site-Specific Projects at Serpentine, London, this compelling piece will stand out as a highlight of Art Basel 2025, underscoring the fair’s dedication to showcasing art in powerful and memorable environments.
“I want to paint the world. I swing my gun and everything it comes into contact with changes color. Color becomes anarchic. It allows me to fight categorizations. It can appear everywhere and pass over borders to turn reality into something entirely liquid. I want to show that possibilities are capable of interpenetrating each other everywhere.”
Katharina Grosse
The fair’s acclaimed Parcours sector will return in 2025, curated for the second consecutive year by Stefanie Hessler, Director of New York’s Swiss Institute (SI). The 2025 edition of Parcours will center on the theme of Second Nature, bringing together artists and works that explore the increasingly blurred boundaries between nature and artifice. This thoughtfully curated public art exhibition will stretch along Clarastrasse towards the Rhine, including the former Hotel Merian on the riverbank of the Rhine, transforming the urban environment into a captivating journey of artistic discovery. Additionally, a dedicated satellite Parcours work at Münsterplatz will feature an expansive installation by Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser). Measuring 80 meters in length, the textile installation titled namak halal / namak haram (2025) references the Inland Customs Line, a 2,500-mile-long plant hedge installed by the British during the colonial era in India to intercept smugglers and enforce salt taxation. The cotton textiles are imprinted with natural dyes from plants that composed the original hedge—one side with an orderly grid of botanical drawings, and the other with disorderly termite motifs. The installation addresses the multiple layers of nature and its exploitation—in salt extraction and its use as a barrier—whereas the double-sided nature of the hedge is highlighted as both architecture of colonial rule and site of resistance.
The fair will be complemented by vibrant events and activities across the city, engaging Basel’s most renowned cultural institutions. This dynamic program will highlight the city’s distinctive appeal, underscoring the profound impact Art Basel has on its hometown and reinforcing Basel’s position as a unique cultural destination.
Art Basel this year launched the Art Basel Awards – the first awards program of their kind in the industry celebrating trailblazing artists, curators, museums, patrons, cross-disciplinary creators, and cultural innovators shaping the future of contemporary art presented in partnership with BOSS. In May, the Awards’ international jury of experts will award 36 medals to individuals and organizations worldwide, selected for their vanguard vision, skill, and transformative potential and influence. Following their announcement next month, this year’s 36 Medalists will be honored at a premier reception in June during Art Basel in Basel. Medalists will also headline the first Awards Summit convening the most influential voices in the global art world, set to take place at Messe Basel on Friday, June 20th, and freely accessible to the public. Further details on the Awards Summit, which will be supported by the Canton of Basel-Stadt, will be released in the coming weeks.
Art Basel launched The Art Basel Shop during Art Basel in Basel last year, and it returns in 2025 with a curated selection of bespoke lifestyle products that celebrate the contemporary art world. The shop features exclusive and limited-edition art, design, and fashion, available to fair visitors and the public for a limited time. This marks a continued expansion of Art Basel’s venture into product design and retail, further enhancing its world-class platform and deepening its engagement with the global community of art professionals and enthusiasts.
Maike Cruse, Director of Art Basel in Basel, said:
“The 2025 edition of Art Basel will showcase not only the extraordinary works within our Galleries, Premiere, Feature, and Statements sectors, but also a dynamic public art program that makes this fair truly unique. Katharina Grosse’s bold transformation of Messeplatz will create a vivid, immersive experience. Meanwhile in Parcours, art will spill out into the urban environment, engaging with the city in a profound and evocative way. With the Awards Summit, we’re expanding the dialogue around innovation, fostering global connections, and honoring those whose work is redefining the art world. This is Art Basel’s commitment to pushing boundaries, not only within the fair but across the city and the cultural landscape.”
Art Basel in Basel 2025, Preview (by invitation only) June 17th and June 18th, 2025
Public opening dates June 19th, 2025–Sunday, June 22nd, 2025 @artbasel
Full list of galleries & partners artbasel.com/basel/the-show
