Small but Mighty Fair artmonte-carlo 2024 Draws Major Collectors and Sales in Monaco

Perched on the edge of the sparkling Mediterranean Sea, the grand venue of Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum provided a fitting location for artmonte-carlo, which concluded its eighth edition last weekend. Billed as a “Salon d’Art whose intention is to establish a quality art event on the Côte d’Azur,” this year’s fair featured 27 booths, from local galleries such as Galerie Retelet to international heavyweights like Hauser & Wirth.

Coinciding with the final days of Monaco Art Week (July 2nd–7th), artmonte-carlo saw a flurry of buyers and gallerists peruse the work of more than 200 artists on view. A far cry from sprawling big-tent style fairs, the compact nature of artmonte-carlo felt refreshing, and—given that Monaco is less than one square mile—commensurate with the scale of its location. Booths were busy throughout the weekend, with a discerning and deep-pocketed crowd of locals and casual buyers taking their time to engage in hushed conversations with gallery owners.

Augustin Nounckele, managing partner at Monaco-based Galerie Retelet, pointed to the fair’s more serene pace. “The big collectors have come back from Basel, so they are relaxing,” he said. “This is not necessarily a fair for buyers to discover new artists. It’s more about people with spending power in Monaco coming across things they love, and buying them for their homes.”

And as a principality where the average net worth is $10 million, Monaco makes for an ideal location. “These are well-informed collectors enjoying a small-format summer fair,” added Bastian Gallery director Aeneas Bastian. “It helps to have the presence of larger galleries like Hauser & Wirth as well as smaller ones.”

The fair’s VIP opening on Friday, July 5th, saw the booths abuzz with excitement, as guest of honor Princess Caroline of Monaco graced the occasion. The day culminated in a dinner and after party in the Port of Monaco, DJed by Luciano Chessa, artist in residence at the government-run Les Ateliers du Quai workshops. Across a sunny weekend on the Riviera, booths remained busy throughout.

Highlights from artmonte-carlo 2024

Displays at the fair were varied and featured a clutch of recognizable names alongside emerging roster artists.

Perhaps the most talked-about work of the fair was Pablo Picasso’s Peintre et son Modèle (1964), priced from $10 million–$20 million at the booth of New York gallery Van de Weghe Fine Art. With a few hours to spare before the fair closed, the gallery was in talks to sell the work to a European collector and existing gallery client. The work spans a colossal 130 centimeters by 190 centimeters, and is so coveted that a fairgoer stole the adjacent tag displaying the work’s particulars from the booth wall.

It wasn’t the only Picasso—or, indeed, blue-chip work—on view at the fair. Berlin- and London-based gallery BASTIAN’s broad showcase of works by prominent artists included a late Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting, Femme assise dans un paysage (1918), priced at €490,000 ($530,633), which was “on hold” at the time of the fair’s closing after plenty of interest from European collectors. Other works included three linocut prints by Picasso (one of which was sold), priced from €40,000–€44,000 ($43,317–$47,649), and rare Cy Twombly photographs of studio spaces and the splattered art within.

Among the other standout group presentations was Hauser & Wirth, which offered a wide range of paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from a large cross-section of artists. The mega-gallery, which is currently holding a light-filled Larry Bell exhibition at its nearby space on Place du Casino, anchored its booth with a captivating Mark Bradford buoy-shaped sculpture suspended from the ceiling. It also featured a Pipilotti Rist video installation, ‘Peeping Freedom for Jina Mahsa Amini’ (2023), fashioned as a literal window into women’s rights.

Taking a similarly global approach was Paris-based 193 Gallery—returning to the fair for the third time—with a booth that took visitors on a global tour of work by artists hailing from five continents. From the idyllic acrylic paintings of New Zealand–based painter Rob Tucker, priced from €8,000–€16,500 ($8,663–$17,868); to the electric-hued photographs by Kenyan photographer Thandiwe Muriu, priced from €9,000–€12,000 ($9,746–$12,995), the display was flanked with colorful creations from a cacophony of traditions.

“There are a lot of collectors in the area, but it’s also a good opportunity to meet new people who might be visiting for the summer,” said Maria Herrera, the gallery’s associate director, who added that a European collector and existing client of the gallery who “didn’t know we’d be here” bought a significant Muriu work for €23,000. By the end of the fair, the gallery’s sales also included a pair of Tucker paintings for €16,500 ($17,868) apiece and an Aldo Chaparro sculpture for €25,000 ($27,073).

Sidonie Sakhoun, a sales assistant at Parisian gallery Mennour, noted some differences between the clientele at artmonte-carlo and larger fairs in the region such as Art Basel in Switzerland: “In terms of clientele, people are more discreet, and buy works because they appreciate and understand them, not just to build a collection,” she said. Works at the Mennour booth ranged from €4,000–€500,000 ($4,332–$541,463), including vibrant, gestural watercolors and delicate sculptures by Camille Henrot, a suspended Alicja Kwade mobile made of gold-plated steel and stones, and two captivating Anish Kapoor sculptures. By the end of the first day, the gallery had reported sales of works by Henrot, Tadashi Kawamata, and Claire Fontaine.

At the booth of Lisson Gallery, making its fair debut, director Max Bossier echoed the “completely different clientele and atmosphere” of the fair. The gallery reported significant interest in works by the likes of Hiroshi Sugimoto, Anish Kapoor, and Ryan Gander. “There are numerous important collectors at the fair, as well as people who are keen on art and interested in learning more,” he said. “I think we’ll be back next year.”

Indeed, there was an anecdotal increase in footfall compared to previous years, according to regular exhibitors such as Opera Gallery, which has a space in Monaco. Damian Simonelli, the gallery’s Monaco director, pointed to a successful edition of Monaco Art Week that took place alongside the fair with a series of gallery openings, auctions, and museum exhibitions. “We’ve already been engaging with collectors and cultivating a new audience through our Monaco Masters show which opened earlier this week,” he said, adding that the majority of collectors visiting the booth were locally based. The gallery showcased nine works at its booth, including a Jean Dubuffet sculpture, a Pierre Soulages painting, and a colorful Murano glass and steel sculpture by Manolo Valdés. It reported significant interest in works on the higher end of the booth’s €200,000–€3 million ($216,585–$3.25 million) price range by the end of the fair’s first day.

Other significant sales at the fair included a Gregor Hildebrandt illuminated panel work for a price in the range of €55,000–€60,000 ($59,561–$64,976) sold by Almine Rech to a Luxembourg-based collector, and a Xavier Veilhan painting for €35,000, sold by Perrotin to a local buyer. The French mega-gallery also sold a Hildebrandt mixed-media piece depicting Grace Kelly for €44,000 ($47,649). London’s Richard Saltoun also sold a significant work by Magdalena Abakanowicz, and two Greta Schödl works priced in the range of €3,000–€5,000 ($3,249–$5,414) apiece.

Monaco’s art scene comes alive