PARIS.- Gagosian announced its participation in Art Basel Paris at the Grand Palais, with a presentation that places a historical masterwork in dialogue with modern and contemporary paintings and sculptures.

Peter Paul Rubens’s tightly composed and vibrantly executed painting The Virgin and Christ Child, with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist (c. 1611–14) was specially authorized for inclusion in Art Basel Paris’s main sector in recognition of its exceptional quality and its resonance with other modern and contemporary works in Gagosian’s booth. A recently rediscovered depiction of the holy family, the painting is comparable to one of the same subject in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection in Madrid. It derives its subject matter from an Apocryphal text, the Franciscan homily Meditationes vitae Christi, but the Flemish artist may also have been inspired by Italian masterpieces such as Leonardo’s interpretation of the same subject and Raphael’s La perla (1518–20). Likely a commission for private devotional purposes, Rubens’s masterwork was painted ten years prior to his celebrated commission from the French queen, the Marie de’ Medici cycle (1622–25), which remains on view at the Louvre.

In an exception to the fair’s usual restriction on pre-twentieth-century inclusions in its main sector, Gagosian’s presentation juxtaposes Rubens’s seventeenth-century painting with works by John Currin, Jadé Fadojutimi, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, Auguste Rodin, Jenny Saville, and other artists who have shaped the course of postwar and contemporary art. The selection embodies the spirit of the gallery’s programming and marks the thirtieth anniversary of Gagosian’s 1995 exhibition of paintings and sketches by Rubens in New York. The booth’s curatorial concept also reflects the current interests of contemporary artists Albert Oehlen and Ed Ruscha, both of whom are exhibiting new work at Gagosian’s Paris galleries that explores art historical precedents.

In Gagosian’s booth at Art Basel Paris, the Rubens painting is installed alongside a selection of more recent works in which the figure also takes center stage, each playing a different role that echoes each artist’s preoccupations. These include Currin’s new painting Supermoon (2025), a provocative take on the Three Graces in which the painter wields classical technique to offer an acerbic commentary on the aging body, and Rodin’s bronze Le Baiser (The Kiss) (c. 1905–10), a version of his erotically charged marble sculpture of an embracing nude couple.

The booth also includes Picasso’s Nu accoudé (1961), in which the artist gleefully deconstructs the female body, his subject’s reshaped features derived from a fascination with African masks, and Red Shapes and Yellow Wires (1975), one of Alexander Calder’s classic sheet-metal mobiles. Holding the sculpture’s component forms in precise balance, Calder suspends each element in space, transforming motion into a compositional element. Other works on view include paintings by Georg Baselitz, Ellen Gallagher, Mark Grotjahn, Simon Hantaï, Brice Marden, Sterling Ruby, and Cy Twombly, as well as works by Christo, Robert Ryman, Richard Serra, Rachel Whiteread, and Christopher Wool.

At rue de Ponthieu, a rotating selection of works is presented as an extension of the gallery booth at the Grand Palais, reflecting the breadth of its diverse programming by featuring marquee historical and living contemporary artists. The presentation also mirrors a resurgence of interest in Minimalist aesthetics, an area additionally explored in Walter De Maria: The Singular Experience, curated by Donna de Salvo at the Le Bourget gallery (October 19, 2025–April 18, 2026) and the group exhibition Minimal at Bourse de Commerce, Paris (on view through January 19, 2026).

Exhibitions at Gagosian galleries in the Paris area that are open during Art Basel Paris include Albert Oehlen: Endless Summer at 4 rue de Ponthieu (October 20–December 20, 2025), Ed Ruscha: Talking Doorways at 9 rue de Castiglione (October 22–December 3, 2025), and Walter De Maria: The Singular Experience at Le Bourget.