Art Basel Miami Beach To Return With a Sweeping Examination of Modernism

Hugo Crosthwaite, “Tijuacolor,” 2024. (Photo: Courtesy Luis De Jesus Los Angeles)

As December draws closer, Miami will soon be transforming into an expansive playground for all things art. Yet again, a central actor in that transformation is Art Basel Miami Beach, one of the world’s most prestigious art fairs, with programs in the eponymous Basel, Hong Kong, Paris, Qatar, and, of course, Miami Beach. Held from December 5 – 7, 2025, at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the 2025 edition gathers more than 200 leading galleries from 43 countries around the world, offering a kaleidoscopic glimpse into the contemporary art world.

Now in its 23rd year, Art Basel Miami Beach has hit an extraordinary stride in terms of its thematic scope. This year, blue-chip and emerging galleries alike will consider Modernism through a “trans-hemispheric lens,” per the fair, emphasizing Indigenous, Latine, and diasporic practices in particular. Despite its roots in the 20th century, the fair positions Modernism as an ongoing project, one that constantly informs the contemporary canon and its development. That framework is best reflected in the fair’s selection of galleries, which traces modern art and its decades-long evolution not just in the United States, but around the world.

Berry Campbell Gallery, for instance, revisits women’s contributions to abstract expressionism in the U.S., presenting works by artists such as Alice Baber, Elaine de Kooning, Lynn Drexler, and Helen Frankenthaler, among others. Philadelphia’s Locks Gallery is similar in its approach, showcasing modernist masters like Louise Bourgeois and Lynda Benglis, alongside paintings by Willem de Kooning and Jennifer Bartlett. Houston’s Sicardi Ayers Bacino, on the other hand, catalogs works by Latin American masters who redefined optical, geometric, and conceptual art, spanning the postwar era to today. Based in Paris and Barcelona, Mayoral stages something of a transatlantic encounter, illustrating how Spain’s postwar avant-garde reverberated throughout the Caribbean.

This isn’t to say that Art Basel Miami Beach is only looking backward. The fair also spotlights countless sections dedicated to contemporary artists, with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. One highlight includes El Apartamento, standing as the first Cuban gallery founded on the island to participate in the fair. At their booth, visitors can explore works by Diana Fonseca, Ariamna Contino, and Miki Leal, each of whom examine and ultimately complicate notions of “otherness.” Mendes Wood DM, whose locations span São Paulo, Brussels, Paris, and New York, looks into how textiles and texture play into themes of memory, while Mexico’s kurimanzutto illuminates recent geometrical pieces by Gabriel Orozco.

“The 2025 edition foregrounds the multiplicity of American art—not as a single narrative but as a constellation of perspectives,” Vincenzo de Bellis, Art Basel’s chief artistic officer and global director of fairs, remarked in a statement. “From Indigenous modernisms to emergent diasporic practices and digital forms, the fair traces how artists throughout the Americas continue to reshape global artistic imagination.”

Aside from these various galleries, Art Basel Miami Beach will also encompass conversation, curation, awards, and partnership programs, as well as its new Zero 10 initiative. In collaboration with OpenSea, the program connects artists, studios, galleries, and digital innovators with Art Basel’s global curatorial and market ecosystem. Zero 10 will debut with 12 international exhibitors for its inaugural edition, and will “establish a new benchmark for how digital art is exhibited, contextualized, and collected today,” according to the fair.

“Each edition [of Art Basel Miami Beach] responds to the urgency and ambition of its moment while laying the groundwork for the future,” Bridget Finn, director of Art Basel Miami Beach, added. “In 2025, we bring together exceptional galleries, artists, and patrons in an environment defined by rigor, exchange, and possibility.”

To learn more about the upcoming Miami Beach fair and its program, visit the Art Basel website.

Held from December 5 – 7, 2025, the 23rd edition of Art Basel Miami Beach will explore modernism and its development across the world.

Luisa Rabbia, “The Network,” 2024–25. (Photo: Courtesy Peter Blum Gallery)

Yatreda, “Twenty-First Century Akodama,” 2025. Digital artwork by the artist paired with silver sculpture by Asprey Studio, presented as part of Zero 10. (Photo: Courtesy the artist and Asprey Studio)

Tseng Chien-Ying, “Sirocco Pass,” 2025. (Photo: Courtesy Ames Yavuz)

Interior shot of a previous edition of the art fair. (Photo: Courtesy Art Basel Miami Beach)

Gabriel Orozco, “The Eye of GO (Blue),” 2024. (Photo: Courtesy kurimanzutto)

Maxwell Alexandre, “Sem título [Untitled],” 2025. (Photo: Julia Thompson, courtesy Almeida & Dale)

Alexander Calder, “Untitled,” ca. 1938. (Photo: Courtesy Van de Weghe)

The renowned fair will once again gather hundreds of premier galleries, with a special emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean.

Sunil Gupta, “The Party,” from the series “Exiles,” 1986–87. (Photo: Courtesy Vadehra Art Gallery)

Dalton Paula, “Prosa II,” 2002. (Photo: Ding Musa, courtesy Galatea)

Alighiero Boetti, “Senza prima né dopo,” 1991. (Photo: Courtesy Tornabuoni Art)

Charles Ledray, “Party Bed,” 2006–07. (Photo: Courtesy Peter Freeman, Inc.)

Miami streets nearby the art fair. (Photo: Courtesy Art Basel Miami Beach)

Art Basel: Website | Instagram

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Art Basel.

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