Drawing has been recognized as a potent and productive practice for artists for millennia. Compared to other genres of artmaking, like painting or sculpture, drawing offers unique insight into an artist’s methods. Offering a sense of immediacy and made from readily accessible materials, drawings often illustrate an artist’s thought process and mode of execution, making them prized among collectors.
From March 26 to 31, 2025, Salon du Dessin, the international fair dedicated to the finest works of drawing both historical and contemporary, is slated to alight once more in Paris during the heart of the city’s Drawing Week (La Semaine du Dessin), which is organized by the fair and sees a range of programming both at and outside the event. Welcoming local, national, and international exhibitors, the 33rd edition of Salon du Dessin promises to forge new understandings around paper-based art.
Highlights include several first-time participants, including Michael Werner with a specialty in contemporary art; Galleria d’Arte Maggiore which maintains a concentration in 20th-century Italian art; and French art gallery F. Baulme Fine Arts, with expertise in European antiques from the 16th through 19th centuries, among others.
Visitors to the fair will also gain an exclusive look into the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims, which will be featured as the fair’s guest of honor. Presently, the museum is undergoing an extensive renovation and expansion and will not reopen until 2026. Under the invitation of Salon du Dessin, however, 46 drawings from the collection will be presented at the fair, including the rare and significant series of thirteen portraits by Lucas Cranach the Younger as well as drawings by Domenico Campagnola, Jean-François Millet, and Léonard Tsugouharu Foujita, just to name a few.
Presentations by the fair’s other guest of honor, the Tavolozza Foundation, which maintains a specialty on the theme of “the artist at work,” and other themed sections such as “Traveling artists and travel drawings,” bring focus to the sweeping event. And with works by artists ranging from Old Masters to contemporary icons, the full spectrum of the drawing medium.
Fair Director Louis de Bayser said, “We are eager to welcome all the drawing lovers here in the Salon du Dessin with this year a great diversity of works exhibited by the 39 dealers showing the wide range of draughtsmanship from the 16th century to contemporary works.”
Salon du Dessin will be held March 26–31, 2025
