Picasso goes for US$35m at Art Basel as global art market rebounds with strong demand for top-tier works

BASEL (Switzerland), June 19 — Art Basel made a splashy debut this week despite global turbulence, with an eight-figure sale for a Picasso during an invite-only VIP preview, and a David Hockney fetching US$8.5 million (RM36.1 million).

The flagship fair in the Swiss city brings together 290 galleries from 43 countries and territories and is one of the year’s top events for contemporary art sales.

It opens to the public on Thursday after two days reserved for wealthy collectors who flock to the event in search of exceptional pieces.

On Tuesday, a 1963 painting by Pablo Picasso, titled “Le peintre et son modele dans un paysage”, was sold for US$35 million (RM148.8 million) by Zurich gallery Hauser & Wirth.

Basel Exclusive, a new initiative encouraging galleries to reserve significant works for their first public presentation at the fair, made its debut this year and saw another Picasso fetching between US$6 million (RM25.5 million) and US$6.5 million (RM27.6 million) for French gallery Almine Rech, according to the fair’s organisers.

US gallery Gray sold a canvas by British painter David Hockney, who died last week at the age of 88, for US$8.5 million (RM36.1 million).

“The mood is very good, there is a positive, optimistic mood and feel. It’s very buzzy,” said Vincenzo de Bellis, artistic director and a member of Art Basel’s executive team.

“Certainly, we cannot deny that uncertainties and the geopolitical situation has an impact, but so far what we have seen in the last few months is that there is more positivity than negativity around the art market,” he said.

Market rebound

According to a report prepared for Art Basel by UBS bank and the firm Arts Economics, the global art market bounced back by four per cent in 2025 after two years of decline, climbing back to around US$59.6 billion (RM253.4 billion).

In the face of macroeconomic uncertainty, the year had got off to a cautious start but demand picked up in the second half.

However, the report notes that demand was driven primarily by auction sales rather than gallery sales and by the top end of the market — works priced above US$10 million (RM42.5 million).

“The beginning of the year has been quite positive... with major collections in terms of quality coming up for sale,” said Eric Landolt, head of the art advisory and collections department at UBS.

“Now we will have to see how this develops in the second part of the year. It all depends on the whole geopolitical situation and the economic situation.”

In mid-May, Christie’s pulled off a spectacular sale in New York, surpassing the US$1.1 billion (RM4.68 billion) mark in auctions that included part of the private collection of American billionaire Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., who died in 2017.

On Wednesday, the frenzy at Art Basel had eased somewhat, with the biggest deals being concluded during the first two hours of the fair, recalled Thaddaeus Ropac, an influential Austrian art dealer.

“It’s more relaxed. But it’s still very transactional,” he added.

On Wednesday morning, his gallery notably sold drawings by German artist Georg Baselitz, after a busy day on Tuesday during which he sold, among other works, a painting by French painter and printmaker Pierre Soulages for more than US$3 million (RM12.8 million). — AFP