Frieze London and Frieze Masters opened at Regent’s Park with 172 participating galleries from 42 countries, bringing global collectors to the British capital alongside high-profile sales led by blue-chip sculpture, historical antiquities, and ambitious modern presentations.
The international art world descended on Regent’s Park as the annual contemporary and historical fairs launched at a measured, reset-era pace on Wednesday, Oct. 14.
Antiquities and Multimillion-Dollar Masterworks at Frieze Masters
Early sales records showed steady engagement among high-net-worth collectors navigating a cautious market, with Hauser & Wirth reporting the day’s top transaction as the sale of Jan Brueghel the Elder’s oil on oak panel Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase, presented in dialogue with a floating Calder, which fetched in the region of £5 million. Hauser & Wirth additionally reported selling 23 more works at Frieze Masters, including a wartime painting by Francis Picabia for €1.1 million and Pablo Picasso’s Violon (1943), a collage of rope and oil on cardboard, for €850,000. Other artists sold across the gallery’s presentations included Bob Thompson, Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Avery Singer, George Condo, Lee Bul, and Christina Kimeze. At the entrance of Frieze Masters, ArtAncient displayed a Cypriot votive head of a man from the 7th to 6th century B.C. discovered by Luigi Palma di Cesnola, once exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and priced at £250,000. Nearby displays included an Egyptian quartzite relief dated to 322 B.C. and an 18th-Dynasty Egyptian head of the lioness-headed goddess Sekhmet, both offered in the six figures.
Gallery presentations also anchored significant transactions across the tent. David Zwirner and Victoria Miro reported selling three paintings by Alice Neel from their joint presentation in Queering Modernism
for $1.8 million, $1.6 million and $1.6 million. Conceived by curator Anke Kempkes, the initiative runs throughout Frieze Masters to challenge conventional narratives of modernism through works engaging with gender, sexuality, and self-representation.
Vito Schnabel Gallery brought a roster of contemporary blue-chip names, recording first-day sales including a George Condo for $925,000, alongside works by Ai Weiwei at €450,000, Ron Gorchov at $400,000, and Markus Lüpertz at €350,000. Meanwhile, fossil dealer David Aaron presented an exceptionally complete 150-million-year-old Camarasaurus supremus skull. Making its Frieze Masters debut, Andrew Edlin Gallery paired work by two long-overlooked figures: Antiguan painter Frank Walter (1926-2009) and American sculptor Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015), both enjoying growing institutional and commercial recognition.
Olfactory Interventions and Sensory Installations in the Fair Bathrooms
Beyond traditional booth presentations, fair organizers commissioned artist Gray Wielebinski to conceptualize olfactory installations for the restrooms.
Other immersive works engaged visitors physically.
Navigating Market Pressures and Collector Caution
The fair’s opening unfolded against a backdrop of reported industry caution, though directors pointed to resilient local participation and creative innovation among dealers. Eva Langret, Frieze’s director of EMEA, noted that collectors are taking more time and that galleries face mounting expenses in bringing booths to international fairs.
Despite these economic headwinds, temporary activations and parallel exhibitions across London expanded the commercial reach of Frieze Week. Stone Island launched its latest Frieze uniform T-shirt featuring an artwork by Senegalese artist Arébénor Basséne, represented by Dakar-based gallery Selebe Yoon, with a companion exhibition running until November 6 at Selfridges Corner Shop. Dover Street Market held its usual bazaar-like Frieze celebration on Thursday evening (15 October 2026), including the relaunch of Comme des Garçons’ short-lived but influential magazine, Six.