36,000 entries

55 galleries / 18 countries

1,350 artworks / 250 artists / 40 nationalities

90% of exhibiting galleries reported significant sales

5 sold-out galleries

BEIRUT ART FAIR was inaugurated on 18 September by His Excellency Mr. Mohammad Daoud Daoud, Minister of Culture, representing His Excellency Mr. Saad Hariri, President of the Council of Ministers, accompanied by Laure d'Hauteville, the fair's founder and director, with more than 8,000 guests in attendance at the VIP opening ceremonies. Artists and galleries from Lebanon and the Middle East, as well as Europe and the United States, welcomed a diverse crowd of international collectors.

BEIRUT ART FAIR's selection committee, comprised of Olivia Bourrat, Jean-Marc Decrop, Tamara Inja Jaber, Lyne Sneige, and Marie-Ann Yemsi, as well as the fair's Artistic Director Joanna Abou Sleiman-Chevalier, underscored the pertinence of the artworks on show in galleries' and museums' booths.

The fair also received a large number of personalities from the international art world, including around 2,000 foreign collectors as well as representatives from distinguished institutions, such as the Sao Paolo Contemporary art Museum (Brazil), the Fondation Boghossian (Belgium), the Centre Georges Pompidou (France), the Fondation Cartier (France), LVMH (France), the Musée de la Chasse (France), the Musée du Quai Branly (France), the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Lisbon (Portugal), AlUla Project (Saudi Arabia), the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture (Saudi Arabia), Barcelona's MACBA (Spain), the Agence France-Muséums for the Louvre Abu Dhabi (UAE), the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (UAE), Warehouse421 from Abu Dhabi (UAE), the Friends of the Centre Georges Pompidou (United States), and the Middle East Institute from Washington D.C. (United States), to name but a few.

GALLERIES REPORT

• 90% of exhibiting galleries reported significant sales. All were satisfied with the breadth of the public and the interest of local and international collectors, with whom they were able to establish relationships.
   
• Artworks ranging between USD 700 and USD 30,000 easily found buyers, as did several exceptional pieces hovering around USD 100,000 and above.
   
• Many outstanding works by emerging artists, priced under USD 1,000, equally found an enthusiastic public of young collectors.
   
• Local gallerists unanimously reported that BEIRUT ART FAIR helped draw a significant public to their permanent spaces throughout the fair week.
   
• Several leading international galleries, many of whom were present at BEIRUT ART FAIR for the first time, boasted important sales to prestigious collections, notably kamel mennour (France/ United Kingdom), with artists Neïl Beloufa, Alicja Kwade and Matthew Lutz-Kinoy, and GALLERIA CONTINUA (France/China/Italy/Cuba), with Yoan Capote and Carlose Garaicoa.
   
• L'Agence à Paris / SEPTIEME Gallery (France), one of the public's "discoveries" during the fair, saw a prestigious Lebanese collector acquire an installation by Radenko Milak. Primo Marella Gallery (Italy) equally met with success thanks to artists Abdoulaye Konaté and Joel Andrianomearisoa, who represented Madagascar at this year's Venice Biennale. Galerie In Situ-fabienne leclerc (France) successfully presented works by internationally renowned Lebanese artists Daniele Genadry and the duo Joana Hadjithomas & Khalil Joreige.
   
• Many established local galleries likewise were greatly satisfied with the fair's outcome, such as Agial Art Gallery / Saleh Barakat Gallery (Lebanon), who sold a sculpture by Ayman Baalbaki – one of the fair public's main attractions – and paintings by Serwan Baran, who represented Iraq at this year's Venice Biennale; Galerie Cheriff Tabet (Lebanon), with David Daoud, Andrew Iacobucci and Benoit Debbane; Mark Hachem Gallery (Lebanon/ France / United States) with Hussein Madi, and in collaboration with Great Britain's TAFETA, who showed sculptor Victor Ekpuk. Galerie Janine Rubeiz (Lebanon), exhibiting in collaboration with Rose Issa Projects (United Kingdom), successfully sold works by Farhad Ahrarnia.
   
• Jordanian galleries The Corner Art Space, Orient Gallery, Wadi Finan Art Gallery, and Nabad Art Gallery joined the fair as part of the Jordanian pavilion, under the aegis of Jordan's National Gallery of Fine Arts, and presented the rising figures of the Jordanian scene. Karim Gallery (Jordan) focused on artists from the Arab world. 
   
• BEIRUT ART FAIR also allowed younger galleries to connect with a new public, gain privileged access to the Middle Eastern market and raise their profile on the international scene. Newcomer Galerie Pauline Pavec (France) notably had painter Quentin Derouet enter an important Lebanese collection. Moreover, the fair effectively confirmed the market's interest in supporting emerging talents throughout its PROJECT section, with, for instance, American gallery Twelve Gates Arts reporting an almost sold-out show thanks to the works of Hiba Schahbaz and Affan Baghpati, and France's Galerie La La Lande, who introduced works by Slimen El Kamel and Sonia Ben Slimane, and is enthusiastic about the public's interest for contemporary African art.