The first weeks of 2026 confirmed what the closing months of 2025 had begun to suggest: the global art market is not simply recovering — it is actively expanding into new geographies, new collector demographics, and new curatorial formats. Six major fairs held across four continents between late January and early February painted a detailed picture of where the market stands and where it is heading.

Singapore Art Week (22–31 January)

Singapore Art Week (22–31 January) opened the season as a city-wide cultural system, anchored by ART SG with 100+ galleries from over 30 countries and 43,000+ visitors. The fair embedded a dedicated S.E.A. Focus programme for Southeast Asian artists directly into its structure — a signal that regional identity is no longer a subcategory but a primary market proposition. Beyond the fair itself, Ai Weiwei's 60-metre installation and a five-hour live performance by Melati Suryodarmo, alongside eight curated exhibitions by John Tung, extended the fair's reach across the city. The market peaked at the top end: Lee Bae sold out entirely for a cumulative $2.758 million through Johyun Gallery, while Fernando Botero's A Family (1997) reached $2.95 million — the fair's highest-priced work of the edition, brought by Medellín-based Galería Duque Arango making its ART SG debut. Other notable sales included Raqib Shaw's Fall of the Jade Kingdom I – Paradise Lost Chapter II (2014–2023) at £475,000 and Antony Gormley's SET VII (2024) at £450,000, both through Thaddaeus Ropac.

BRAFA in Brussels (25 January – 1 February)

BRAFA in Brussels (25 January – 1 February) operated on a different register entirely — a cross-category market platform bringing together 147 galleries from 19 countries, presenting 12,000 to 15,000 works across 20 specialities to 72,000 visitors at Brussels Expo. What distinguished this edition was the depth of institutional engagement: the Musée du Luxembourg and the Van Gogh Museum both made acquisitions, while new collectors from Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Germany reinforced BRAFA's long-standing cooperative model between the trade and the museum world. Market activity reflected confident high-value placements — Keith Haring works up to $500,000 through Martos Gallery, which sold no fewer than ten works in total and has already confirmed its return next year; a €250,000–275,000 painting by Javier Calleja via Almine Rech; and Jacob Jordaens' The Triumph of the Eucharist — a preparatory modello for the altarpiece now in the National Gallery of Ireland — sold on the first weekend for approximately €200,000 through Jan Muller Antiques.

Art Genève (29 January – 1 February)

Art Genève (29 January – 1 February) followed with its 14th edition at Palexpo — 80 galleries from 27 countries, 28,000 visitors, and a programme deliberately positioned as a selective "Salon d'Art" rather than a mass-market event. The fair leaned into monumental and solo formats: 16 solo exhibitions and a dedicated Sur-Mesure platform for large-scale works and live performances, with institutional participation from MAMCO, Fondation Antoine de Galbert, and FMAC Geneva. At Eva Presenhuber, Louisa Gagliardi's The Kiss sold out within two hours. The Prix Solo Art Genève–Piaget was awarded to Maximilian William (London) for its presentation of Reginald Sylvester II's Offering series — nine new paintings on industrial rubber — with two works acquired and donated to MAMCO Geneva. The Keith Haring $500,000 sale referenced in earlier reporting belongs to BRAFA, where Martos Gallery was also active; no separate Haring sale at that price point was confirmed at Art Genève.

The following week brought three simultaneous fairs across three continents — each representing a distinct moment in the market's geographic expansion.

Zona Maco in Mexico City (4–8 February)

Zona Maco in Mexico City (4–8 February) celebrated its 24th edition at Centro Citibanamex with 220+ galleries from 26 countries and over 82,000 visitors, including 70 international museum groups — numbers that firmly establish it as Latin America's leading art fair. The programme united regional and international galleries across a single cohesive structure. Sean Kelly Gallery brought Marina Abramović's self-portrait Portrait with Flowers, an exploration of identity and self-expression. Pace Gallery reported selling almost its entire solo presentation of Kylie Manning's large-scale abstract paintings during the VIP preview, with the triptych At the Edge of Things (2025) acquired by a prominent Mexican collection. Financial details were not disclosed in either case.

India Art Fair in New Delhi (5–8 February)

India Art Fair in New Delhi (5–8 February) became the largest edition in its history — 135 participants, a deliberate 80/20 balance between local and international galleries, held at the NSIC Exhibition Grounds. The fair operated as a full ecosystem across five sections: Main, Focus, Design, Platform, and Institutional. Programme highlights included Judy Chicago's installation What If Women Ruled the World?, the AI-driven Charpai Project, Afrah Shafiq's AR embroidery commission for the BMW Art Commission 2026, and Marina Abramović's debut with Nature Morte. Demand was strongly domestic: works by M. F. Husain offered through Aicon Contemporary were priced between $2 million and $6 million, attracting particular attention in the context of the recent opening of a museum dedicated to him in Doha. On the secondary market, Indian modernists continued their upward trajectory — a 1954 Husain painting had set a new record of $13.8 million at Christie's in New York in early 2025, while a single Saffronart sale in September reached $40.2 million across 85 lots. DAG's secondary market sales of Indian modernists at the fair reached ₹12 crore (approximately $1.44 million) — a figure that reflects the growing depth and confidence of the Indian collector base.

Art Basel Qatar (previews 3–4 February,public 5–7 February)

Art Basel Qatar (previews 3–4 February, public 5–7 February) was, by any measure, the most structurally significant event of the season. The first Art Basel edition in the Middle East — held at M7 and the Doha Design District with 87 galleries from 31 countries — was conceived not as a conventional art fair but as a museum-scale event backed by state funding across the MENASA region. The Becoming programme, curated by Wael Shawky, dispensed entirely with the traditional booth structure, presenting galleries within a unified exhibition space. Jenny Holzer's large-scale light projection SONG was among the works integrated into this format, while the public programme — including Qatar Creates Talks led by Sheikha Al Mayassa — recorded full-capacity attendance throughout. Key confirmed sales included Kutlug Ataman's 22-screen video installation Mesopotamian Dramaturgies / The Stream (2022) placed with an institution for $250,000 through Niru Ratnam, and Ahmed Mater's photographic works through ATHR Gallery — spanning $45,000 to $220,000 — which effectively sold out, with Second Meeting (2025) reaching $220,000 and multiple editions of Black Stone selling between $55,000 and $79,000. Hauser & Wirth brought Philip Guston paintings priced between $9.5 million and $14 million, with at least one reportedly sold. Qatar Museums was highly active throughout, using institutional white slips to reserve works for the forthcoming Art Mill Museum. The fair drew over 17,000 visitors and representatives from more than 85 international museums.

Taken together, these six fairs describe a market in confident motion. The top end is holding — and in several cases, strengthening. Institutional engagement is deepening across all formats and geographies. New collector communities in South and Southeast Asia, the Gulf, and Latin America are no longer peripheral to the market's story — they are increasingly central to it. For collectors navigating 2026, the message is consistent: the opportunities are expanding, and so is the competition for the works that matter most.