Monaco: Arts Attack
During the week of 7 July 2025, Monaco is expected to be taken by storm by collectors and art lovers.
"This is the first year that Monaco Art Week, the Grimaldi Forum's summer exhibition, and the Art Monte-Carlo fair will kick off on the same day. It's a wonderful opportunity for art market people. Every collector, whether from London, Paris, Switzerland or the United States, will be in Monaco," enthuses Louise Gréther, President of Monaco Art Week and Director of Sotheby's Monaco. Since 2017, "in order to promote Monaco as a key art destination, 19 galleries and auction houses have joined forces for a week and invited collectors, professionals and art lovers to come together for an artistic journey." Unique exhibitions take place throughout the Principality. The walk takes visitors from Moneghetti to Larvotto, passing through the heart of Monte-Carlo, via, for example, Monaco Sculptures. This event, organised by Artcurial, brings together a selection of iconic 20th- and 21st-century sculptures - sold at auction - from April to September in the gardens and iconic establishments of the Société des Bains de Mer. The 2024 edition generated over €4 million.
Positioning Monaco on the art market map
At the same time, the ninth edition of Art Monte-Carlo will be held from Monday 7 to 9 Wednesday July at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. It is the younger sister of Art Genève, which brings together some 80 galleries specialising in modern and contemporary art for a week in January. Organiser, Palexpo, chose Monaco to strategically position itself on the summer circuit of collectors, who often have a residence on the Monaco to Saint-Tropez axis. The fair hosts some 30 leading international modern and contemporary art galleries, including Perrotin, Nathalie Obadia, Mennour and Franco Noero, as well as Hauser & Wirth and Almine Rech, which have recently established themselves in Monaco. "It's a very good sign for the area and it places Monaco on the art market map," says Director, Charlotte Diwan, whose objective is “to maintain a selective and intimate fair," and this "even if Art Monte-Carlo is this year taking over the new 3000-m² extension of the Grimaldi Forum," explains Charlotte Diwan, who is exploring possible collaborations with the Centre Pompidou. The museum's greatest 20th-century masterpieces, from Sonia Delaunay to Jean-Michel Basquiat, including Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Henri Matisse, and Vassily Kandinsky, will be presented at the Grimaldi Forum in the Couleurs exhibition, which promises to be spectacular. It is already known that a work exhibited at Art Monte-Carlo will join the collection of a Monégasque museum: the Prix Solo Art Monte-Carlo-FP Journe is financing the acquisition of a work by an artist presented by one of the participating galleries, before it is donated to the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco.
Market readjustment
For the region's art connoisseurs and collectors, this week represents the perfect opportunity to experience a wealth of art throughout Monaco and, for some wealthy art lovers, to buy from the loyal exhibitors who return to the fair each year. The 2025 trend? "We are sensitive to market fluctuations. Art Monte-Carlo takes place at the end of the art fair season and the economic situation always influences gallery participation," notes Charlotte Diwan, aware that 2024 has been a complicated year. "All the exhibitors are talking about a slump in sales. Some are reporting 20% drops in turnover, so we are also inevitably impacted by this type of situation." A question of cycles?: "We are currently experiencing a market readjustment. This is logical after a post-Covid period where prices were very high and the market very active,” remarks the Swiss-born Diwan.
By Milena Radoman, Monaco Economie
