Synopsis
Art Basel arrived under a cloud: shaky auctions, absent American collectors and a market gripped by doubt. Yet by the end of the week the fair had reminded me that sentiment, more than sales figures, often determines the art market’s mood. The real story unfolded at the margins — from Liste’s fresh galleries to the anarchic Basel Social Club — where new voices and formats quietly rejuvenated the ecosystem. As my friend collector Harald Falckenberg (RIP) once told me, “Good markets make bad art, and bad markets make great art.” This week in Basel lifted my mood and that of many others.
