The art-fair calendar – Maastricht, Basel, London, Paris and Venice through the year

Europe's art year runs on a handful of fixed points. Collectors, curators and gallerists move between them, and the cities that host them change character for the week, with parallel fairs, dinners and gallery openings around the main event. For a traveller with an interest in art, the calendar is worth knowing whether you plan to buy or simply to look – the major fairs open to ticket holders after their private preview days.

March: TEFAF Maastricht

The year opens in the south of the Netherlands. TEFAF Maastricht, organised by the non-profit European Fine Art Foundation at the MECC exhibition centre, was first held there in 1988 with 89 dealers, most of them Dutch. It grew out of two earlier fairs, Pictura and Antiqua, and it has kept their focus: Old Master paintings and antiques, alongside classical modern and contemporary art, jewellery, twentieth-century design and works on paper. Around 260 galleries from some twenty countries take part over ten days, showing what Wikipedia describes as museum-quality pieces. The 2027 edition runs from 13 to 18 March, after invitation-only preview days on 11 and 12 March.

June: Art Basel in Basel

Art Basel began in Basel in 1970 and has long been regarded as the largest and most prestigious fair of the modern and contemporary market. The flagship takes place over a week in late June at Messe Basel on the Messeplatz. The first days are invitation-only previews for collectors; public days follow with purchased tickets. Around it, a ring of parallel fairs – Liste, founded in 1996, and Volta, from 2005, among them – fill the rest of the city. The hotel Les Trois Rois becomes the art world's meeting point for the week. Art Basel has since added fairs in Miami Beach (December), Hong Kong (March), Paris (October) and, from 2026, Qatar.

October: Frieze London and Frieze Masters

Frieze was founded by Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, the people behind the contemporary art magazine of the same name, and the first fair was held in Regent's Park in 2003. Frieze Masters followed in 2012 with a brief that suits a London trip perfectly: art made before the year 2000. Auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips schedule contemporary sales to coincide with Frieze London. The 2026 fairs were held from 14 to 18 October.

October: Art Basel Paris at the Grand Palais

Paris also claims October. Art Basel Paris was launched in 2022 as Paris+ par Art Basel, taking over the October slot at the Grand Palais that the French fair FIAC had occupied for close to half a century – a change met with shock in parts of the Paris art world at the time. It spent its first editions in a temporary space near the Eiffel Tower and is now held in the Grand Palais under its current name. Its director is Karim Crippa. With London and Paris a short train ride apart, both fairs can be combined in one autumn journey.

Every other year: the Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale is not a fair – it is an international exhibition – but no art calendar is complete without it. Held since 1895, it is the oldest event of its kind. The main site is in Castello, where the Giardini hold around 30 permanent national pavilions. Since 2021 the Art Biennale has fallen in even years and the Architecture Biennale in odd years, so 2027 belongs to architecture and the next Art Biennale to 2028. Read our culture coverage for exhibitions through the year.

How to do a fair week well

Book hotels early, and choose a public day mid-week if you can. Treat the fair as a map of the city's galleries and museums rather than an end in itself; much of what makes these weeks special happens around the halls. Frieze itself stopped publishing sales figures in 2006, noting that many sales happen in private or after the fair – so if you intend to buy, talk to galleries well ahead. More travel ideas in our travel section and on metromode.co.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.