MENA Galleries to See at Art Basel Paris 2026

Seven galleries from our region head to the Grand Palais

Paris is about to become the centre of the art world once again. Art Basel Paris returns to the Grand Palais for its fifth edition, opening to the public from 23 to 25 October 2026, and it is the first under the direction of Karim Crippa. This year's fair brings together 211 galleries from 41 countries and regions, and seven of them are based in the MENA region, from Dubai and Beirut to Tunis and Istanbul. So, let's take a look at what's on offer.

For anyone less familiar with it, Art Basel launched its Paris fair in 2022, and it has quickly become one of the most important weeks in the art calendar. The fair is split into three sectors: Galeries, the main section, with 183 exhibitors; Emergence, with 16 solo presentations by younger galleries; and Premise, with 12 research-led projects. According to Art Basel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, Lebanon and Tunisia are all among this year's exhibiting countries.

Perhaps the most exciting news for our region is a debut. Dubai's Green Art Gallery is taking part for the first time, in the Emergence sector, with a solo presentation by Emirati artist Asma Belhamar (b. 1988). Born in Dubai, Belhamar makes ceramics and drawings that look at the "megastructure", using 3D printing, ceramics and wood to think about how the UAE's rapid development affects memory. Her solo show at the gallery, When the Window Refused to Fly, and the Arch Decided to Hold the Sky, ran from 17 January to 18 March 2026, so this is a chance for Paris audiences to see a practice that has been making waves at home.

Another first-timer is the Tunisian gallery Le Violon Bleu, founded in 2003 by Essia Hamdi and one of the galleries announced for the first edition of Art Basel Qatar. In the Premise sector, it is dedicating its stand to the Moroccan modernist Farid Belkahia (1934-2014). According to Art Basel, the presentation traces his path from his academic training in Prague to his work in leather, pigment and the geometric traditions of Morocco. For anyone who knows the story of Moroccan modernism, Belkahia is a giant, and seeing him given a research-led stand at Art Basel is significant.

Interestingly, The Pill, the Istanbul gallery founded by Suela Cennet, which opened a Paris space in 2024, is moving up. Having previously shown in Emergence, it now makes its debut in the main Galeries sector with a curated booth on the body as a site of transformation, from birth and ageing to erosion and repair, across video, painting, collage and sculpture. It brings together three artists of different generations, among them the Turkish artist Cem Örgen and Apolonia Sokol.

Several of the region's leading galleries are back, too. Selma Feriani Gallery, which works between Tunis and Sidi Bou Said, returns, and it is also one of the galleries taking part in Oh La La!, the fair's two-day rehang on Friday and Saturday, directed this year by the actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu on the theme of "Myths and Legends". Its pick is the Tunisian artist Aymen Mbarki (b. 1983), whose delicate drawings on old paper we love.

ATHR, which has spaces in Jeddah, AlUla and Diriyah, returns after showing Sarah Abu Abdallah, Hayfa Algwaiz and Lulua Alyahya last year. Beirut is represented by Sfeir-Semler Gallery, which also has a space in Hamburg, and by Marfa' Projects, which brought Seta Manoukian and Paola Yacoub in 2024. None of the three has announced its line-up for this year yet, so we'll be heading straight to their stands to find out.

What's more, artists from our region and its diaspora are everywhere this year. Simone Fattal (b. 1942), who was born in Damascus and grew up in Lebanon, has a bronze, Door (2024), installed on Avenue Winston-Churchill outside the Grand Palais, presented by five of her galleries. She will also be in conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist on 22 October, while her retrospective, Des villes au fond d'un lac, is on view at the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris until 24 January 2027. Just across the river, Kutluğ Ataman's 40-screen video installation Küba (2004), about a community on the edge of Istanbul, is on show at the Chapelle des Petits-Augustins at the Beaux-Arts de Paris from 20 to 25 October.

Inside the fair, Kader Attia shows wooden busts made with African artisans at mor charpentier, while Zineb Sedira (with Goodman Gallery) and Rosalind Nashashibi (with PM8 and Francisco Salas) are both part of Oh La La!.

That said, it is hard not to notice who is missing. The Third Line, Lawrie Shabibi, Gypsum, Dastan and Galerie Imane Farès are not on this year's list, and no gallery from Egypt, Morocco, Iran, Palestine, Jordan or Qatar is taking part. With Art Basel now running a fair in Doha, we'd love to see more galleries from the Gulf and North Africa in Paris next year.

So, what can we take away from this? Seven galleries may not sound like many in a fair of 211, but two newcomers, a modernist master in Premise and a growing presence in the public programme suggest that our region's place at Art Basel Paris is steadily growing. We can't wait to see what's on the stands.

Art Basel Paris takes place at the Grand Palais from 23 to 25 October 2026, with previews on 21 and 22 October.

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