Art Basel kicked off on Tuesday, June 16th, with an invite-only VIP preview. This year, the flagship Swiss fair is hosting 290 galleries from 43 countries and territories.
As collectors, advisors, and curators filled the VIP day, multi-million dollar sales were quickly reported by galleries at the fair.
The leading transaction of the day was Hauser & Wirth's sale of Pablo Picasso's Le peintre et son modèle dans un paysage (1963), at an asking price of $35 million. The gallery said it had sold 35 works by 4 p.m. local time, making it one of the fair's strongest early performers.
“The first day of Art Basel 2026 has been stellar for Hauser & Wirth, as strong a first day as we’ve ever had,” said gallery president Iwan Wirth.
Gagosian, meanwhile, placed Willem de Kooning's No title (1984) with an important private collection in Asia for a high seven-figure sum, while GRAY sold David Hockney's Studio Interior #2 (2014) for $8.5 million.
Dealers also reported active institutional buying across Europe, Asia, and North America. Isa Genzken's Untitled (2018) was sold by Hauser & Wirth, Galerie Buchholz, and David Zwirner for €1.2 million ($1.39 million) to a European museum and Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois sold Niki de Saint Phalle's Blue Obelisk (1992) to a private museum in France for “over” €1 million ($1.16 million).
Demand for women artists, particularly from the mid-20th century, also proved strong. Thaddaeus Ropac sold Helen Frankenthaler's Sudden Wave (1982) for around $3 million, White Cube placed Lynne Drexler's Untitled (1960) for $2.5 million, and Pace Gallery sold Lynda Benglis's Power Tower (2019) for $1.4 million. Meanwhile, New York dealer Berry Campbell reported sales of works by Mary Abbott, Judith Godwin, and Pat Passlof.
This year's edition also introduced Basel Exclusive, a new initiative encouraging galleries to reserve significant works for their first public presentation at the fair. Early successes included Almine Rech's sale of a Picasso painting in the $6 million–$6.5 million range and Sprüth Magers's placement of a John Baldessari work for $500,000.
Check back for our full sales report on Monday. In the meantime, we share some leading sales reported at the VIP day of Art Basel 2026.
- In addition to the Picasso sale, Hauser & Wirth sold Cy Twombly's On Returning from Tonnicoda (1973) for $5 million, Sperlonga Drawing (1959) for $2.5 million, and Louise Bourgeois's Les Fleurs (2009) for $2.5 million.
- In addition to Hockney's Studio Interior #2 (2014) for $8.5 million,Chicago gallery GRAY sold a 2011iPad drawing from Hockney's “The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate” series for $650,000 and Kenneth Noland's No End (1961) for $2 million.
- Almine Rech sold a Picasso ceramic priced between $350,000 and $450,000. The gallery also reported sales of works by Serge Poliakoff, Martha Jungwirth, Ha Chong-Hyun, Leonora Carrington, Javier Calleja, Ji Xin, Youngju Joung, and Taryn Simon.
- Thaddaeus Ropac’s sales included Pierre Soulages's Peinture 146 x 97 cm, 31 janvier (1954) for “more than” $3 million and Helen Frankenthaler's Sudden Wave (1982) for “around” $3 million. The gallery also sold works by Lucio Fontana, Georg Baselitz, Alex Katz, and Robert Rauschenberg.
- Sprüth Magers sold Josef Albers's Homage to the Square: Between 2 Scarlets (1962) for €2.5 million ($2.9 million) to a U.S. private collection. Additional sales included works by Donald Judd, Jenny Holzer, Rosemarie Trockel, Cyprien Gaillard, and John Baldessari, whose Basel Exclusive presentation sold for $500,000.
- White Cube sold Doris Salcedo's Untitled (2008) for $1.25 million. In Unlimited, it also sold Tracey Emin's Knowing My Enemy (2002) for £1.25 million.
- Brussels dealer Xavier Hufkens sold a sculpture by Louise Bourgeois for $2.2 million.
- Yares Art sold Helen Frankenthaler's Gliding Figure (1961) for $2 million, Joan Mitchell's Untitled (1958) for $1.2 million, and Larry Poons's Toccata Mambo (2014) for $190,000.
- David Kordansky Gallery’s sales were led by Jonas Wood’s Nintendo #4 (2026) for $1.5 million
- In addition to the Benglis work, Pace Gallery’s sales were led by Robert Longo's Untitled (Gerhard's Forest) (2026) for $750,000.
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