Paris in October belongs to art — and this year, the art world showed up determined. The fifth edition of Art Basel Paris opened its public days Friday at the Grand Palais, running October 23–25 under the glass vaults of the great exhibition hall, in the fair’s first edition under new director Karim Crippa.

The scale is serious: 211 galleries from 41 countries and regions — 183 in the main Galeries sector, 16 in Emergence and 12 in Premise — including 64 galleries operating in France and 32 first-time participants. Around the fair, Paris art week hums with satellites including Paris Internationale and Design Miami.Paris, while inside the Grand Palais the fair keeps inventing: the Premise sector moved into a larger Salon Seine space, the Conversations program took over the Grand Palais Auditorium, and Oh La La! — mid-fair booth rehangs art-directed by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu — rewrote stands on October 23–24. An expanded Public Program carried a first presentation to the Parvis des Droits de l’Homme by Tracey Emin.

And then there is the money. The fair’s biggest ticket hangs at Pace Di Donna Schrader: Modigliani’s 1917 Nu étendu (Lolotte), priced at over $100 million. The sales that have landed are led by Hauser & Wirth, which placed Gerhard Richter’s Rokokotisch (1965) at around $10 million and Georg Baselitz’s Der Hirte (1965) at around $10 million. White Cube sold two Julie Mehretu paintings at $7.85 million each, David Zwirner placed a Richter at $8.5 million, and Pace sold Dubuffet’s La chaise for just over $5 million. The crowd-stopper, meanwhile, is Jeff Koons’ ten-foot bronze Corks (Couple) — the selfie backdrop of the fair.

The context made the turnout its own headline: the fair opened days after a weekend of unrest across France, with barriers and dog patrols around the Grand Palais. Some collectors stayed home — but a great many came anyway, and the Grand Palais at full stretch suggests Paris’s grip on the art calendar is only tightening. Public days run through Sunday, October 25, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

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