{"id":20717,"date":"2026-01-30T22:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T22:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/30\/art-geneve-courts-galleries-with-a-different-market-logic\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T22:21:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T22:21:25","slug":"art-geneve-courts-galleries-with-a-different-market-logic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/30\/art-geneve-courts-galleries-with-a-different-market-logic\/","title":{"rendered":"Art Gen\u00e8ve Courts Galleries With a Different Market Logic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Art Gen\u00e8ve unfolds at a deliberately measured scale, offering galleries and collectors a setting defined by conversation and connection. Photo: Thomas Annaheim Lambert<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ambiance at Art Gen\u00e8ve\u2014held at Palexpo, a conference center in the north of Geneva not far from the city\u2019s airport\u2014generates more of a murmur than a buzz. This fair (open now and running through February 1) is a moderate outing relative to Switzerland\u2019s more ambitious and infamous Art Basel, but for some participants, that\u2019s the draw. Hauser & Wirth<\/a> senior director S\u00e9verine Waelchli<\/a> told Observer the fair\u2019s more \u201cconfidential\u201d setting facilitated \u201cquality of meetings\u201d and enabled \u201ctime with collectors.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With 81 galleries on the 14th edition roster\u2014including Mennour, Galerie Lelong & Co. and Pace\u2014solo shows were fully integrated into the fair\u2019s layout, and booths were offset by institutional projects throughout. There was a strong showing of Paris galleries but very few from London and even fewer from outside Europe. Hauser & Wirth, participating in Art Gen\u00e8ve for its third consecutive year, showed a panorama of works by Paul McCarthy<\/a>, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Delprat<\/a>, Lucio Fontana<\/a> and Philip Guston<\/a> (whose work is on view three hours away at Mus\u00e9e Picasso Paris through March 1). A work by Takesada Matsutani<\/a> sold within two hours of the preview opening. Thereafter, the gallery sold G\u00fcnther F\u00f6rg\u2019s pastel on handmade paper Aller Retour<\/i> (2008) for \u20ac95,000, plus a Lorna Simpson<\/a> ink and screenprint on gessoed fiberglass, Blue Tulip<\/i> (2023), for $400,000. A Verena Loewensberg<\/a> untitled oil on canvas from 1969 sold for 250,000 CHF, while an untitled Cindy Sherman<\/a> gelatin silver print (1976\/2000) sold for $25,000.<\/p>\n

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Hauser & Wirth at Art Gen\u00e8ve 2026. Courtesy the artists \/ estates and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Th\u00e9a Giglio<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Several booths down, Templon showed up in what has become an annual ritual\u2014the gallery has participated since 2015. \u201cIt enables us to see our francophone Swiss collectors, because in Basel, it\u2019s a very, very intense rhythm,\u201d managing director Anne-Claudie Coric<\/a> told Observer. \u201cEven if I see collectors in Basel, here is a more privileged context; we see them calmly and have more time to exchange. It\u2019s a more human scale. That\u2019s why we don\u2019t miss this rendezvous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the first 24 hours of the fair, the gallery sold a painting by Kehinde Wiley<\/a>\u2014\u201cour American star,\u201d Coric christened him\u2014for $550,000. Works by Ivan Navarro<\/a>, Martial Raysse<\/a> and Chiharu Shiota<\/a> (who worked on the set d\u00e9cor for a production at the Grand Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de Gen\u00e8ve<\/a> in 2023-2024) sold as well. \u201cWe\u2019re not putting million-dollar tableaux here,\u201d Coric noted of the modest context of this fair. Concurrently, the gallery has a booth in Brussels at Brafa, which also runs through February 1.<\/p>\n

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Templon at Art Gen\u00e8ve 2026. Courtesy TEMPLON \u00a9 Sebastiano Pellion di Persano<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Swiss presence at the fair spans Geneva, Basel, Lausanne, Neuch\u00e2tel and Zurich, encompassing a cross-section of spaces including S\u00e9bastien Bertrand<\/a>, Fabienne Levy<\/a>, Gowen<\/a>, Livie Gallery<\/a>, Taste Contemporary<\/a> and Wilde<\/a>. Geneva gallery Lovay Fine Arts<\/a> is participating for the third time with a booth featuring two works by Swiss artist John M Armleder (whose carte blanche show \u201cObservatoires<\/a>\u201d opened at the Museum of Art and History, in tandem with the fair). Both untitled, one was an aluminum lacquer on cardboard piece from 1967 priced at 10,000 CHF; the other a collage, aluminum, bronze and acrylic on tissue paper from 1983, priced at 15,000 CHF. The gallery had already sold work by recently deceased Italian artist Lucia di Luciano<\/a>, whose acrylic on masonite pieces ranged from 7000 CHF to 9000 CHF. The gallery also sold work by Swiss artists Pascal Vonlanthen<\/a> (a cardboard piece inscribed with a felt-tip pen and Posca for 14,000 CHF) and Ligia Dias<\/a> (whose mirrored and brass work sold for 7000-8000 CHF).<\/p>\n

Balthazar Lovay<\/a> told Observer that Lovay Fine Arts participates in LISTE, miart, Artissima, Paris Internationale and Independent, but having a hometown advantage makes Art Gen\u00e8ve especially appealing. Speaking about the city\u2019s wider art scene, he said \u201cthere are amazing institutions,\u201d citing MAMCO (the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Art Moderne et Contemporain) in particular, although it is presently under construction. He also praised the quality of Swiss art schools but lamented that, \u201cunfortunately, Swiss laws prevent international students from staying in Geneva after their studies; the immigration laws are much too difficult and strict. Many very good young artists leave\u2014to Berlin, to Paris, to Brussels\u2014so it\u2019s really a loss for Geneva, to let those brains go.\u201d However, he felt excited about the growth of the Quartier des Bains, a formerly industrial neighborhood turned gallery hub, which he said is becoming more dynamic. \u201cStay tuned!\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n

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Pascal Vonlanthen, Un vote<\/em>, 2024. Brought by Lovay Fine Arts. Courtesy Lovay Fine Arts<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Karma International<\/a>, headquartered in Zurich, director Justine Hauer<\/a> told Observer it was the gallery\u2019s third time participating. The first year was a solo booth dedicated to Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury<\/a>; this year, a group show, although Sylvie Fleury works were present in the form of an installation of crystals in a corner, \u00e0 la Felix Gonz\u00e1lez-Torres, and her signature oversized makeup compact (both from 2022). \u201cFor Geneva, it would be a crime not to have her in the spotlight,\u201d Hauer said, because Fleury is a critical figure \u201cas a woman, a Swiss artist and in her way of including femininity in art history.\u201d On the preview day, Karma International sold Nelly Rudin<\/a>\u2019s oil on canvas 223<\/i> (1974\/1975) for 30,000 CHF and Gina Fischli<\/a>\u2019s glitter and glue on wood piece Going<\/i> (2025) for 2,000 CHF. The booth\u2019s pricier works included a 1970 Hans Josephsohn<\/a> untitled brass sculpture for 95,000 CHF and a 1943 pencil on paper Meret Oppenheim work, Steinbeeren<\/i>, for 100,000 CHF.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou may have more connections when you go to Art Basel\u2026 than coming here,\u201d Hauer acknowledged of Art Gen\u00e8ve. \u201cBut that\u2019s why here is so interesting; you get to know new collectors and curators.\u201d<\/p>\n

More in Art Fairs, Biennials and Triennials<\/b><\/h3>\n

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