Art Basel Hong Kong 2026 got its VIP day underway on March 25, 2026, to a high-density turnout of major regional collectors.
Buoyed by a wave of new satellite fairs, fresh leadership appointments at major institutions, and the 40th anniversary of Christie’s in Asia, Hong Kong’s art market is showing renewed vigor that felt palpable in the aisles of the National Convention Centre.
“The first day has seen a significant step up in energy,” said Marc Payot, president of Hauser & Wirth, a view echoed by fellow dealer David Maupin of Lehmann Maupin, who noted the “renewed energy felt across the fair and the city.”
In a clear sign of confidence, many gallerists were voluntarily sharing robust first-day sales reports across the fair. Several also noted that while the crowds were larger, the fair’s organization allowed for meaningful business. “The first day is definitely more crowded than last year, even for a preview,” observed Pascal de Sarthe, founder of local gallery DE SARTHE. “However, the ‘First Choice’ hours remained exclusive, giving us the necessary time to communicate deeply with close clients. It’s a good balance.”
Despite the buzz surrounding the Zero 10 section—Art Basel’s new initiative dedicated to digital art that first debuted at its Miami Beach fair last December—the physical booths remained dominated by high-quality two-dimensional works. Many exhibitors also appear to be playing a strategic long game this year, with a large number bringing works by artists poised for major institutional moments in 2026. A recurring strategy across the floor was the deliberate pairing of emerging voices with established blue-chip masters, offering a balanced entry point for both seasoned collectors and a younger generation of buyers.
A work by one of the most blue-chip of all artists led the fair’s opening day ticket of reported sales: Pablo Picasso’s Le peintre et son modèle (1964) for “approximately” €3.5 million ($4.05 million) at BASTIAN’s booth.
Read our day one sales digest here, and check back on Monday for our full sales report. Here, we present the 10 best booths from the fair.
With works by Alice Baber, Janice Biala, Bernice Bing, Louisa Chase, Elaine de Kooning, Lynne Drexler, Mercedes Matter, Elizabeth Osborne, Yvonne Thomas, and Lucia Wilcox
Returning for its second appearance at Art Basel Hong Kong, New York–based Berry Campbell Gallery continues its mission to champion historically underrecognized artists. This year, the gallery presents a dedicated all-women booth featuring a powerhouse lineup including Bernice Bing, Elaine de Kooning, and Lynne Drexler.
The booth’s gravitational center is undoubtedly Lucia Wilcox’s Untitled (Jungle) (1944). Painted shortly after Wilcox escaped to the United States from Beirut, the work embodies a masterful synthesis of Surrealism, Fauvism, and Abstract Expressionism. The composition draws the viewer into a dense forest path where camouflaged animals overlap with flora or hide behind trunks. The sky in the distance, rendered with an almost auroral glow, imbues the scene with a mystical, otherworldly quality.
Wilcox’s precise, pointed technique finds a rhythmic echo in the works of Drexler on the opposite wall. Bar Circle (1944) is a striking oblong canvas defined by vivid oranges and structured by horizontal and vertical strokes of beige and pink. These are accompanied by a curated selection of four sketches by the artist. Each emphasizes a single primary hue—ranging from canary yellow to deep cyan—creating a vibrant, modular symphony of colors illustrating the artist’s rigorous exploration of color theory.
Booth 3D21
With works by Zoran Mušič, Jaffa Lam, Kimsooja, and Bosco Sodi
At Axel Vervoordt Gallery’s smartly curated booth, Eastern and Western perspectives are bridged in a presentation that includes works by Kimsooja, Bosco Sodi (who has just concluded a major solo exhibition at the He Art Museum in Guangdong, China), and Zoran Mušič.
For Art Basel’s Kabinett sector—dedicated to curated thematic presentations—the gallery highlights a poignant selection of works on paper by Mušič, a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp. While his career spanned several distinct phases, it was not until the 1970s that he began to fully process the trauma of the Holocaust through his art. Vervoordt’s presentation focuses largely on works from the 1980s and beyond. In these haunting compositions, figures appear to disintegrate into the background, their faces fading or rendered in a spectral, ghostly white—a visceral representation of memory and loss.
Another standout is a group of works from Jaffa Lam’s “Windbreak” series, which arrives at the fair following its debut at the current Shanghai Biennale. This body of work marks a significant material shift for Lam, who turned to ceramics for the first time during a residency in Jingdezhen, eastern China.
The inspiration for the series struck during a visit to Shanghai’s historic housing. Lam became fascinated by the central shafts supporting the staircases—elements she views as the essential, yet constantly overlooked, “backbone” of a building. In this installation, Lam has modeled her ceramics after these structural forms. Notably, she has left one side of each piece unglazed; a metaphor for the human condition and the tendency to present only a partial, “finished” version of ourselves to the world.
With works by Choi Byung-So, CHOI SANG CHUL, Lee Myung Mi, Ahn Chang Hong, Tadashi Kawamata, Heryun Kim, Yi Youjin, Kim Heewon, Ahnnlee Lee, and Yukimasa Ida
Against the backdrop of recent political turmoil in South Korea, the Seoul-based Wooson Gallery presents a poignant look at the roots of the country’s avant-garde. The booth features many established Korean artists, such as Choi Byungso, a seminal figure of the Korean Experimental Art movement of the 1970s.
During an era when newsprint was the dominant—and heavily censored—mass medium, Choi used it as his primary canvas. In a repetitive, labor-intensive act of creative defiance, he would draw lines with pencil and ballpoint pen until the paper’s surface tore from friction, eventually taking on a dark, metallic sheen. This exhaustive process served as a silent protest against the media’s perceived lack of responsibility under the regime. Choi, who passed away last year, was recently featured in the landmark 2023 exhibition “Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s” at the Guggenheim Museum.
Complementing this is the work of Choi Sangchul, another cornerstone of Korean abstraction. His practice is centered on the concept of “Mu-mool,” a term he coined to describe a state of primordial chaos and infinite possibility existing before form emerges.
Rejecting the traditional use of hands or brushes, Sang-chul allows his art to become a “trace” of external forces—often using objects like stones to mark the canvas. Despite this lack of direct gestural intervention, many of his paintings strikingly resemble the fluid, rhythmic strokes of traditional Chinese calligraphy, bridging the gap between accidental markmaking and intentional heritage.
With works by Chao Chung-hsiang, Cherie Cheuk Ka-wai, Fang Zhaoling Ming Fay, Fong Chung-ray, Fu Xiaotong, Danny Lee Chin-fai, Man Fung-yi, Walasse Ting, Wang Tiande, Fiona Wong Lai-ching, and Zhang Xiaoli
Marking its 45th anniversary, Alisan Fine Arts has curated its booth around 20th-century pioneers and women artists.
For Art Basel’s Kabinett sector, the gallery features Chao Chung-hsiang, a student of the legendary Lin Fengmian and a member of the first generation of Chinese diaspora artists to settle in the United States. The work of Chao, who passed away in 1991, draws on Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, and Pop art. As the noted art historian Gao Minglu observed, the essence of Chao’s practice shares a deep spiritual and formal connection with the Chinese avant-garde ink movements of the 1980s. This temporal displacement makes Chao a singular, prophetic figure among his contemporaries.
Nearby, a vibrant ink painting on rice paper by the Chinese American artist Walasse Ting—depicting a horse in lush, velvet tones—captivated VIP visitors. Ting moved to New York in 1957, where his close friendship with the American painter Sam Francis immersed him in the currents of Abstract Expressionism and Pop art.
By the 1970s, Ting’s style had synthesized these Western movements into a fluid, expressive line anchored by traditional Chinese ink sensibilities. His work is currently featured in the group exhibition “How Asian is It?” at the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation in New York, on view through July.
With works by David Austen, Charles Avery, Hayley Barker, Andrew Cranston, Moyna Flannigan, Callum Innes, Mia Kokkoni, Aubrey Levinthal, Brandon Logan, Rob Lyon, John Joseph Mitchell, Katie Paterson, Lorna Robertson, Catherine Ross, and Caroline Walker
Scottish artist Caroline Walker is widely celebrated for her cinematic portrayals of women at work. Yet at Ingleby Gallery’s booth, the focus shifts to a rare and deeply personal subject: the artist herself.
Presented as if captured from a vantage point outside her own living room window, the painting depicts a quiet, domestic tableau. Walker is seen holding an infant while another child sits at a table with their back to the viewer. At first glance, it feels like a fleeting snapshot of a mundane day. However, a closer inspection reveals an atmospheric contrast.
The interior of the living room is bathed in a soft, inviting yellow light, but the world outside the glass is rendered in cool, dark blues. A row of empty flower pots sits neglected in the foreground, suggesting a garden left untended. This visual dissonance—the warmth of the home versus the “overgrown” or ignored world outside—invites the viewer to wonder about the hidden pressures of motherhood.
With works by han Ka Kiu, Lov-Lov, Caison Wang, Zhong Wei, and Bernar Venet
In a sharp conceptual pivot, Hong Kong’s DE SARTHE’s booth features a curated dialogue between four Asian and diaspora artists: Chan Ka Kiu, Lov-Lov, Caison Wang, and Zhong Wei.
In the Kabinett sector, meanwhile, the gallery shifted the focus to the legendary French conceptual artist Bernar Venet. The presentation creates a focused dialogue between two pillars of Venet’s practice: his iconic Corten steel sculptures and a selection of his autonomous charcoal drawings.
The presentation arrives on the heels of a historic moment for the artist. Last December, Venet’s 18-meter-high sculpture, Convergence: 52.5° Arc x 14 (2024), was permanently gifted to China to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations. The official unveiling in Beijing was attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron, cementing Venet’s status as a bridge between Eastern and Western cultural history.
With works by Pablo Picasso, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Philip Guston, Francis Picabia, Willem de Kooning, Agnes Martin, Luchita Hurtado, Lee Bul, Mark Bradford, George Condo, Rashid Johnson, Qiu Xiaofei, Cindy Sherman. Avery Singer, Henry Taylor, Roni Horn, Zeng Fanzhi, Jeffrey Gibson, Frank Bowling, Flora Yukhnovich, Angel Otero, William Kentridge, Paul McCarthy, Nairy Baghramian, Larry Bell, and Pat Steir
Much like the momentum Hauser & Wirth generated at Frieze Seoul last year, the current Lee Bul survey at M+, “Lee Bul: From 1998 to Now”—which first showed at Seoul’s Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art during Frieze Seoul—is significantly bolstering collector appetite at Art Basel Hong Kong.
The gallery showcased several new works by the artist, including Untitled (“Infinity” wall) and Perdu CCXXVII (both 2026). In the former, Lee utilizes two-way mirrors and LED lights to create a disorienting, infinite void—a spatial exploration of perception, utopia, and the desire for immortality. Perdu CCXXVII offers a different texture. Here, layers of mother-of-pearl and acrylic paint on jute canvas reflect the artist’s enduring interest in the friction between the natural and the synthetic, the traditional and the modern.
Hauser & Wirth’s strategy of institutional alignment in its booth also extended to Qiu Xiaofei, whose first solo exhibition with the gallery, “The Theater of Wither and Thrive,” is currently on view in New York. The booth featured Qiu’s Garden (2025–26), a work where the garden motif transcends simple landscape: In Qiu’s hands, it becomes a space of existential mystery—a dreamlike realm constructed from childhood memories and historical ruins.
This dual-front strategy proved productive: Garden was sold to a private foundation in Asia for $395,000, while Bul’s Untitled (“Infinity” wall) and Perdu CCXXVII were acquired by a private museum and a private collector for $275,000 and $260,000, respectively.
With works by Piper Bangs, Fan Jing, Song Ling, Manuel Mathieu, Gideon Rubin, Lionel Sabatté, Hu Weiyi, Justin Williams, Lee Jin Woo, Zhao Yinou, Yun Yongye, and Qi Zhuo
At HdM Gallery’s booth, Chinese artist Hu Weiyi presents a series of “two-dimensional sculptures” that function as a modern meditation on alchemy and the circular economy of technology. Hu’s process is a deliberate collision of the high-tech and the crude. He salvages discarded digital devices, extracts their internal chips, and has them processed in workshops where they are boiled down into 24-karat gold foil.
This gold—once used as the lifeblood of a superconducting circuit—is then adhered to the surfaces of botanical forms. These “plants” are themselves hybrid creations: AI-generated foliage based on descriptions of extinct species and the artist’s own text prompts.
The works highlight a poignant irony. Gold, one of Earth’s oldest and most precious materials, is the very conductor that allows AI to function at its current velocity. By gilding extinct plants with recycled tech, Hu explores the fragile ambiguity between advanced technology and traditional human craft.
With works by Carlos Aires, Timo Nasseri, and Wardha Shabbir
At the booth of Madrid-based Sabrina Amrani, the intersection of politics and labor takes center stage. The gallery presents the celebrated banknote works of Spanish multidisciplinary artist Carlos Aires, featuring pieces from two evocative series: “Money Makes the World Go Round” and “Love Songs for Times of Crisis.”
Aires utilizes shredded currency from around the world to construct intricate, often unsettling, compositions. By reducing these symbols of national identity and economic might to detritus, Aires performs a destructive yet regenerative act. His work serves as a skeptical investigation into the representations of power, questioning the stability of the systems that underwrite global commerce.
The booth also offers a look at the evolving practice of Wardha Shabbir, who is set to represent the Pakistani Pavilion at the upcoming Venice Biennale. A renowned miniaturist, Shabbir is showcasing her most delicate works to date—pieces so intricate that the artist noted they required two decades of technical discipline to achieve.
With works by Nabilah Nordin
In the Discoveries sector dedicated to solo presentations by emerging artists, Melbourne-based Neon Parc presents a solo exhibition by Singaporean Australian artist Nabilah Nordin, whose recent move to New York has profoundly reshaped her visual language. Inspired by the relentless friction of the urban environment—where human presence is recorded in “finger marks, stains, and footprints”—Nordin seeks to translate that chaotic energy into a physical form.
Her sculptures utilize a gritty palette of construction and industrial materials, yet Nordin manipulates them to appear as if they were organic artifacts recently dug out of the ground. This tension between artificial surfaces and primordial forms is most evident in works like Welded Steel (2026). Here, the base of the sculpture possesses a calligraphic fluidity, which Nordin intertwines with robust, high-volume masses. The resulting dialogue between the delicate and the industrial creates a sensory tension that mirrors the frantic, layered experience of New York itself.
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