Art Basel Paris opens on Friday 23 October with 211 galleries at the Grand Palais. A week earlier, Frieze London and Frieze Masters fill Regent’s Park from 14 to 18 October, and between the two fairs Tate Britain opens an exhibition on the 1990s with Edward Enninful as curator, the Louvre opens Zurbarán and the Fondation Louis Vuitton reopens on 9 October. For collectors, dealers and anyone who travels for art, the second half of October is one of the busiest fortnights of the European year, and it runs on a simple route: London first, Paris second, with the Eurostar in between. Here are the dates, the exhibitions and the hotels closest to the fairs.
Frieze London and Frieze Masters, 14 to 18 October
Frieze opens the season in The Regent’s Park, where the two fairs share the park from Wednesday 14 to Sunday 18 October: Frieze London for contemporary art, Frieze Masters for everything before it, from antiquities to the 20th century. The fair’s themed sections bring together 50 presentations, and Frieze Sculpture shows work by 11 international artists and stays on view until 1 November, two weeks after the tents come down. Frieze publishes the full gallery list on its own site.
The 90s at Tate Britain, from 8 October
London’s exhibition of the season opens the week before Frieze. The 90s: Art and Fashion, at Tate Britain from 8 October 2026 to 14 February 2027, has Edward Enninful, the former editor of British Vogue, as its curator, “whose lived experience of the decade informs the exhibition”, as the museum puts it, and it is supported by McQueen. The names on the gallery’s page tell the story of a decade when London’s art and fashion were made by the same people: Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Juergen Teller, Corinne Day, Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas. Across the river, Tate Modern opens Light and Magic: The Birth of Art Photography on 14 October, until 21 February. Two shows, one week, and a reason to arrive in London before the fair rather than for it.
Art Basel Paris at the Grand Palais, 21 to 25 October
The Paris fair is the larger event and the grander room. Art Basel Paris brings 211 galleries from 41 countries and regions to the Grand Palais, according to the fair’s press dossier: 183 in the main Galeries sector, 16 in Emergence for younger galleries and 12 in Premise. The week has its own choreography. The galleries’ Avant-Première is on 20 October. The preview, by invitation only, runs on Wednesday 21 October and on the Thursday morning, and the vernissage follows on the Thursday afternoon. Then the public days, Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October, from 11:00 to 19:00. Around the fair, a public programme spreads across nine sites of the city, among them the Palais d’Iéna, the Petit Palais across the avenue and the Chapelle des Petits-Augustins. UBS is the global lead partner.
The Paris museums in the same fortnight
The museums’ autumn seasons open in the same fortnight. The Fondation Louis Vuitton, currently closed, reopens on 9 October with Gustave Fayet, Collector-Designer, Icons of Modern Art, until 8 March, alongside a new Open Space with Mohammad Alfaraj. The Louvre opens two exhibitions on 7 October, running to 25 January: Zurbarán, the Spanish painter of the Golden Age, and Sculpting Colour, masterpieces from the Museo Nacional de Escultura in Valladolid; the artists Kader Attia and Elizabeth Peyton are the museum’s guests until 14 December. And at the Grand Palais itself, Cezanne and Us runs from 23 September to 17 January, so a visitor to the fair can see the fair and a Cézanne exhibition under the same roof. For those in Paris a week early, LVMH’s Journées Particulières open the houses’ workshops on 16 to 18 October, and the Fondation stays open on the Friday evening.
| Event | City | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| The 90s: Art and Fashion, Tate Britain | London | 8 October to 14 February |
| Frieze London and Frieze Masters | London | 14 to 18 October |
| Light and Magic, Tate Modern | London | 14 October to 21 February |
| Frieze Sculpture, Regent’s Park | London | Until 1 November |
| Zurbarán and Sculpting Colour, Louvre | Paris | 7 October to 25 January |
| Gustave Fayet, Fondation Louis Vuitton | Paris | 9 October to 8 March |
| Cezanne and Us, Grand Palais | Paris | 23 September to 17 January |
| Art Basel Paris, Grand Palais | Paris | Preview 21 and 22 October, public 23 to 25 October |
Where to stay, close to the fairs
In Paris, the Grand Palais sits between the Champs-Élysées and the Seine, and three of the city’s great houses are a short walk away: the Hôtel de Crillon on the Place de la Concorde, 14th on The World’s 50 Best Hotels this year, La Réserve Paris on Avenue Gabriel and the Plaza Athénée on Avenue Montaigne, both with three MICHELIN Keys. Our guide to the best hotels for Paris Fashion Week covers the same streets. In London, Regent’s Park is a short drive north of Mayfair, where Claridge’s and The Connaught, both three-Key hotels, are the natural base for Frieze week, and the full list of the city’s top-rated addresses is in our guide to Europe’s three-Key hotels. Book both cities early. The fairs set the calendar for the hotels around them.
The Luxury.it perspective
The autumn art season runs from London to Paris, and since Art Basel moved into the restored Grand Palais the Paris half has a room to match the city. The two capitals share the season: Frieze in the park in the middle of the month, Art Basel under the glass roof at the end, and between them the best museum programme in Europe. The pairing that deserves the trip this year is fashion and art. Enninful’s 90s at Tate Britain, with McQueen behind it, is the exhibition to see, and it opens two days after the Paris shows end. For a collector, the Paris preview on 21 October is the day that matters. For everyone else, the Sunday in Paris, with the Grand Palais open until seven and Zurbarán at the Louvre the next morning, is the best way to end the fortnight.
Related guides
Where the fashion crowd eats in Paris · Paris Fashion Week SS27 · Venice in October 2026 and the Biennale · Hotel openings in Europe, 2026 to 2027
