For a few days each June, the compact, quietly elegant Swiss city of Basel, on the Rhine, becomes the centre of the art world, and it earns it. Beyond the fair, Basel has a cultural landscape that rivals cities three times its size: world-class institutions, a serious gallery scene, and a pace of life that somehow makes it all feel unhurried. Whether you’re here for the first time or your fifteenth, there’s always more to discover.

SEE

Art Basel & Art Basel Unlimited

The two main events. Art Basel Unlimited remains one of the most ambitious sectors of any fair globally – large-scale installations and performances that simply couldn’t exist within a standard booth. It’s like entering a giant museum, it’s fun, usually well curated and what people are most excited about. And of course the fair itself, on Messeplatz, where blue-chip and established contemporary galleries bring the best there is in the market – a museum-quality art fair. 

Liste Art Fair

The antidote to the main fair and, for many, the highlight of the week and where collectors make discoveries. Founded in 1996 by a group of young gallerists, Liste has spent three decades championing emerging artists and the galleries that take risks on them. 

Fondation Beyeler

Set in Riehen, a short tram ride from the city centre, Beyeler is one of Europe’s great private museums – intimate, beautifully designed by Renzo Piano, and consistently showing some of the strongest exhibitions anywhere. The permanent collection alone, with works by Giacometti, Rothko, Bacon, and Basquiat, justifies the trip. It’s our favorite spot in the city! 

Kunstmuseum Basel

One of the oldest and most significant public art collections in the world, spanning medieval works through to the present day. Don’t miss Helen Frankenthaler in the Neubau building. Spanning more than fifty works across six decades, this is the largest exhibition of Frankenthaler’s paintings ever held in Europe and her first solo institutional show in Switzerland. A particular focus of the show is her sustained dialogue with art historical sources from the 15th to 20th centuries, several of which are shown alongside her paintings for the first time. 

Schaulager

Part museum, part art storage facility, entirely singular. The Laurenz Foundation’s Herzog & de Meuron-designed building outside the city centre opens to the public during Basel week and consistently presents some of the most ambitious and immersive projects of the season. Worth planning around.

Max Beckmann at Hauser & Wirth

A dedicated exhibition on one of the most important painters of the 20th century. Bringing together self-portraits, landscapes, and portraits spanning the entirety of Beckmann’s career, the show reveals a more intimate dimension of a painter better known for his brooding social allegories. Shaped by two World Wars and a steadfast refusal to be defined by any movement, Beckmann’s work remains as psychologically charged and visually arresting as ever

GO

Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois

While the focus this week is definitely art, we couldn’t write a Basel guide without featuring our favorite: Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois. One of Europe’s oldest city hotels, sitting directly on the Rhine in the heart of the old town since 1681, redesigned in part by Herzog & de Meuron. The three-Michelin-starred Cheval Blanc is the destination for a serious dinner; the Brasserie is the move for a long lunch with a view of the river. That’s where you’ll spot the most important players of the art world! And if you feel extra adventurous, take a swim in the river before you hit the fairs! 

Dip in the Rhine!