Art Basel, the largest international fair of modern and contemporary art, begins its annual edition this Friday in Miami Beach, where 10% of the 283 galleries from 43 countries come from Latin America, and migration, diaspora and indigenous people are prominent themes.
The event, which will run from December 5 to 7, is “marked by a dialogue between North and South America,” with a display “deeply influenced by Latin America, from artists, galleries and museums, who come and really invest their time, to collectors,” he explains. EFE Bridget Finn, director of Art Basel Miami Beach.
“A lot of work this year speaks to migration, innovation, and cross-cultural pollination. Conversations also intertwine with Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Highlights this year are Latinx, indigenous, and diaspora practices that also revisit modernism through a transhemispheric lens,” Finn notes.
Art Basel is the star event of Miami Art Week, which began on Monday with twenty art fairs and more than 1,200 participating galleries, as it is an “intersection between culture and the market,” that is, a platform where artists and buyers of contemporary creations converge.
Latin America in the art world
Almost two out of every three Art Basel exponents this year have their main space in America, which includes thirty, whose main presence is in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Peru or Paraguay.
The original event was born in the Swiss city of Basel in 1970, but Finn remembers that, for the American version of the event, the organizers chose Miami Beach in 2002, as it was a “geographical and cultural nexus point between north and south and Central America.”
“And it is very important that the show reflects that both in the makeup of the galleries and the public. But all of these things make Art Basel Miami Beach the largest and strongest show or art fair in the strongest market in the world. It occupies a unique place in the global art calendar,” details the director.
As an example of the Latin American relevance, Finn cites that among the most anticipated of the event are the Mexican artist Renata Petersen, who will present ceramics and installations with other objects, and the debut in Miami of the Cuban gallery El Apartamento, with a presence in Havana and Madrid.
Haitian photographer Widline Cadet also stands out, whose “work is really inspired by her family’s migration story from Haiti to the United States,” she adds.
“I think that, in this era, at this moment, especially in the United States, it is going to be a very powerful presentation of their work,” says the organizer.
The power of collectors
The fair occurs while the wealthy are investing in works, since in 2025 people with a high net worth, with liquid assets of at least one million dollars, allocated 20% of their wealth to art, up from 15% in 2024, according to the most recent report from Art Basel and the Swiss bank UBS.
Finn believes that there is “no other fair in the United States that brings together such a broad mix of collectors,” mentioning Jorge and Darlene Pérez, Don and Mera Rubell, and Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz, among others.
“The strength of Miami’s collector base was part of that initial attraction to Miami Beach and remains a unique strength of the show. Many of Miami’s collectors have long been known for being adventurous and globally engaged in their collecting habits,” underlines the director of Art Basel Miami Beach.
