As Art Basel Paris brings the international art world to the French capital, the city comes alive with an expansive programme of exhibitions, gallery openings and cultural events. From established institutions to emerging artistic voices, Paris becomes a meeting point for new ideas, fresh perspectives and conversations shaping the contemporary art scene.
While the fair itself draws collectors, curators and art enthusiasts from around the world, some of the most compelling discoveries are to be found beyond its walls. Across the city's galleries, a series of standout presentations offer the opportunity to explore different practices, encounter new work and discover the artists defining the moment.
Whether you're looking to venture beyond the fair's aisles or simply make the most of Paris during one of the art world's most anticipated weeks, these are the gallery exhibitions worth adding to your itinerary.
BARBARA KRUGER | BOURSE DE COMERCE
The Bourse de Commerce presents 'The History of Tears', a major installation by American artist Barbara Kruger, conceived specifically for the museum’s Rotunda and surrounding display cases. Bringing together monumental text, light-box interventions, video and sound, the exhibition transforms the architectural space into an immersive environment in which language becomes both image and physical experience.
Drawing on literary references including George Orwell’s 1984 and Aimé Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to the Native Land, Kruger examines the relationships between power, desire, violence and vulnerability. Moving between the personal and the political, her distinctive visual language challenges how we understand authority, identity and the ways in which images and words shape our perception of the world.
Bourse de Commerce.On view until 18 January 2027.TOMONA MATSUKAWA | GALERIE LONG STORY SHORT
At Galerie Long Story Short, Japanese artist Tomona Matsukawa presents What Slips By, her first solo exhibition with the gallery, bringing together a new body of paintings that explore the subtle dynamics of human relationships. Working from conversations with women about their lives, Matsukawa translates fragments of personal histories, everyday objects and familiar domestic settings into quietly evocative compositions.
Often centred around moments of stillness and seemingly ordinary encounters, her paintings capture the complexities of intimacy, distance and unspoken communication. Through restrained compositions and carefully observed details, Matsukawa draws attention to the emotional significance of the everyday, inviting viewers to consider what is expressed, concealed or left unresolved between people.On view until 14 November 2027.ANISH KAPOOR | MENNOUR
At Mennour, internationally acclaimed sculptor Anish Kapoor presents an exhibition that continues his longstanding investigation into the relationship between materiality, perception and space. Working across reflective surfaces, sculptural forms and unexpected material contrasts, Kapoor challenges the boundaries between the tangible and the immaterial, creating works that shift according to the viewer’s position and perspective.
From concave and convex forms to richly coloured surfaces and enigmatic sculptural objects, his practice explores the psychological and spatial possibilities of sculpture. Through a careful interplay of light, depth and reflection, Kapoor creates an environment in which familiar perceptions of volume and form become uncertain, inviting a more instinctive encounter with the physical world.On view until 28 November 2026.KERRY JAMES MARSHALL | LE MUSÉE D’ART MODERNE
The Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris presents 'The Histories', the first major exhibition in France dedicated to American painter Kerry James Marshall. Bringing together approximately seventy works, including eight new paintings created specifically for the exhibition, the presentation offers an extensive look at an artistic practice that reconsiders the representation of Black identity within the history of Western art.
Known for his monumental figurative compositions and richly layered visual narratives, Marshall places Black subjects at the centre of scenes traditionally dominated by European art historical conventions. Drawing on histories of slavery, the Civil Rights Movement and everyday contemporary life, his paintings challenge established narratives of representation while celebrating the complexity, visibility and cultural significance of Black experience.On view until 24 January 2027.AYSHA E ARAR | SANS TITRE
At Sans titre, Palestinian artist Aysha E Arar presents Shahrazad / شهرزاد, an exhibition exploring the transformative power of storytelling, imagination and the spoken word. Taking inspiration from the legendary figure of Shahrazad in One Thousand and One Nights, the exhibition considers storytelling as a means of survival, resistance and personal freedom.
Drawing on Palestinian folklore, personal memories and lived experience, E Arar creates an imaginative world in which human figures, animals and mythical creatures coexist. Moving between painting, poetry and narrative, her work blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction, allowing themes of love, fear, violence and tenderness to unfold simultaneously. The exhibition offers a compelling reflection on the power of imagination to preserve identity, challenge established narratives and create space for alternative ways of being.On view until 21 November 2026.YU NISHIMURA | LAFAYETTE ANTICIPATIONS
Lafayette Anticipations presents Towards a Sea, the first institutional solo exhibition in France by Japanese painter Yu Nishimura. Bringing together approximately fifty works spanning drawings and large-scale paintings, the exhibition traces a decade of artistic exploration, including new pieces created specifically for the presentation.
Working across oil and tempera, Nishimura constructs atmospheric landscapes in which human and animal figures, architectural fragments and natural forms appear to drift between memory and reality. Drawing on photographic and cinematic techniques, his compositions are characterised by delicate layering, blurred perspectives and an almost dreamlike quality. The sea emerges as a recurring presence, functioning as both a physical landscape and a point of departure for reflections on memory, time and the fleeting nature of everyday experience.On view until 3 January 2027.ALMA ALLEN | PERROTIN
At Perrotin, American sculptor Alma Allen presents his first solo exhibition with the gallery, bringing together a new body of sculptural works that explore the relationship between natural forms, material and the human hand. Working across stone, wood and bronze, Allen draws inspiration from the landscapes and geological formations that have shaped his life, translating organic references into objects that appear at once ancient and contemporary.
Each sculpture begins with an intimate process of hand-modelling, using materials such as string, clay and wax before being translated into more permanent forms. Resembling seed pods, fossils, roots and natural formations, the resulting works carry a distinctly tactile quality, balancing an apparent simplicity with remarkable technical precision. Allen’s practice invites a closer consideration of the relationship between the natural world, craftsmanship and the passage of time.On view until 19 December 2026.OSCAR MURILLO | DAVID ZWIRNER
At David Zwirner, Colombian-born artist Oscar Murillo presents Unfinished Thinking: Paintings and Social Maps, an exhibition of paintings that reflects his ongoing interest in collective experience, movement and the interconnected nature of contemporary life. Working through gestural mark-making, layered surfaces and an expressive use of colour, Murillo approaches painting as an evolving record of thought, memory and human activity.
His compositions bring together fragments of language, abstract forms and accumulated marks, creating visual environments that suggest the movement of people, ideas and histories across geographical boundaries. Drawing on themes of migration, labour, identity and collective memory, Murillo's practice resists fixed narratives in favour of a more fluid understanding of the world. The exhibition offers an insight into an artist whose work consistently moves between the personal and the collective, exploring how individual experiences become part of a wider social landscape.On view until 19 December 2027.MATHIEU CHERKIT | SEMIOSE
At Galerie Semiose, French painter Mathieu Cherkit presents Tendrement, an exhibition of fifteen paintings that explore the relationship between domestic space, perception and the everyday. Drawing inspiration from his own home and studio, Cherkit transforms familiar interiors, objects and architectural details into carefully constructed compositions that reveal the possibilities of painting as a way of observing and reinterpreting the world.
Rather than simply documenting his surroundings, the artist uses shifts in perspective, light and composition to create a series of visual experiments. Each painting offers a different way of navigating the same environment, bringing together multiple viewpoints and moments in time. Through his distinctive approach to space and representation, Cherkit invites viewers to reconsider the familiar, finding unexpected visual complexity in the most ordinary of settings.On view until 31 October 2026.CHAZ GUEST | RX X SLAG
At RX&SLAG, American artist Chaz Guest presents The Sugars at the Bottom, a new body of paintings that revisits the formative experiences and memories of his childhood in Niagara Falls and adolescence in Philadelphia during the 1970s. Conceived as a visual diary, the exhibition brings together scenes of neighbourhood life, gospel churches, family gatherings and everyday encounters, translating deeply personal recollections into expressive figurative compositions.
Through richly layered imagery and a strong sense of narrative, Guest explores the enduring significance of community, faith and cultural identity. His paintings pay tribute to a generation whose experiences were shaped by racial inequality and social exclusion, while foregrounding the resilience, tenderness and collective strength found within family and community life. Balancing autobiography with broader social history, the exhibition becomes a reflection on memory, belonging and the importance of preserving stories across generations.On view until 21 November 2026.AURÈCE VETTIER | DARMO
At DARMO, French artist aurèce vettier presents off-duty seraphim, an exhibition that considers the relationship between artificial intelligence, mythology and the human desire to transcend mortality. Taking inspiration from the spiritual figures traditionally believed to accompany souls into the afterlife, the artist imagines a world in which these beings are left without purpose should humanity one day succeed in overcoming death itself.
Bringing together sculpture, painting, tapestry and pietra dura, the exhibition combines emerging technologies with highly specialised traditional craftsmanship. Working with bespoke artificial intelligence models trained on personal archives, childhood photographs, dreams and memories, vettier translates digitally generated imagery into intricate physical objects. Moving between the speculative and the material, the exhibition explores questions of permanence, transformation and the changing relationship between technology, creativity and the human condition.On view until 5 November 2026.