Unlike last year, the imminent arrival of March has brought no hint of spring. We’re still very much mired in winter—at least here in the northeast where Observer is headquartered. Meanwhile in L.A., where the weather is warmer but the air quality is worse, the big-ticket February art fairs are moving forward as planned as newcomers like Post-Fair seek to establish a foothold in the City of Stars and galleries put their best on show. Hardcore art lovers have several options when it comes to closing out the month: London’s Collect fair or the wilder and weirder Parallax, Art3f Strasbourg and Outsider Art Fair in New York, among them.
From there, they might jet off to the Middle East for Art Dubai or Europe for TEFAF Maastricht or even back to New York City for the springtime edition of Asia Week New York (not an art fair but always worth checking out). But those suffering from yet another bout of fair fatigue may simply hunker down for most of the month, skipping the early March art fairs to prep for Art Basel’s return to Hong Kong in the month’s latter days when warmer winds herald spring’s actual arrival. Here’s what you need to know to put together your own art fair calendar.
The March 2025 Art Fair Calendar
Outsider Art Fair 2025
February 27 – March 2
Established in 1993, Outsider Art Fair (OAF) leans into its distinctiveness, bringing a diverse tapestry of often lesser-known artists, particularly those who operate outside the conventional art education and gallery systems, to New York’s Metropolitan Pavilion. Its focus is on art brut, which can encompass a wide spectrum, from visionary art to street art to folk art, but then again, OAF has also featured works by mainstream contemporary art superstars like KAWS, Cindy Sherman, Julian Schnabel and Laurie Simmons. Still, it’s the place to go for art lovers looking for an unorthodox fair experience with artworks by people with unique stories to share. “Collectors have been increasingly exposed to this type of artwork,” Andrew Edlin, owner of the Outsider Art Fair, told Observer in 2020. “The expansion of OAF has been a factor in that, as well as exhibitions at institutions like the Met. It all shows that outsider art is being recognized in the highest echelons of the establishment.”
Collect Art Fair 2025
February 28 – March 2
Collect will return to Somerset House for its 21st edition with its usual curated selection of artworks that dare to be tactile—offering ceramics, lacquer, textiles and jewelry that demand to be touched (but, of course, shouldn’t be). With 40 international galleries showcasing over 400 living artists from more than 30 countries, including new entries from South Korea, Japan, Ukraine, South Africa, Greece and Canada, is set to show the world once more that contemporary craft and design deserve a serious place in the global art market. Collect Open—the fair’s platform of works hand-picked by an expert advisor committee—invites individual artists and collectives to push materiality to its conceptual limits and “challenge material, social, political or personal perceptions.” And per usual, the fair’s talks program keeps the conversation buzzing, whether through marquee panels or informal booth-side chats with gallerists and artists.
Affordable Art Fair London 2025
March 12-16
The Affordable Art Fair London has spent more than two decades proving that buying art isn’t just for the ultra-wealthy, and its 2025 edition is doubling down on that mission with a global mix of over 100 exhibitors bringing thousands of contemporary works priced between £50 and £7,500. Under U.K. director Hugo Barclay, this fair—held twice a year in Battersea—has mastered the delicate balance of accessibility and quality, making it the go-to destination for first-time buyers and seasoned collectors alike. This year, the lineup includes galleries from eighteen countries, with ten making their debut appearance, ensuring fresh perspectives alongside familiar favorites. Visitors will be greeted by Mother, an imposing entrance installation by Margaux Carpentier, a towering figure packed with secrets, riddles and glimpses of life tucked inside her massive frame. Inside, Resilience in Bloom presents a striking collection of works exploring femininity, identity and survival, tackling themes of displacement, environmental shifts, and cultural heritage with a mix of painting, sculpture and textiles. And for those who prefer their art with a side of discovery, the Spotlight on New Artists display offers a first look at talent making their fair debut.
The Other Art Fair London 2025
March 6-9
The Other Art Fair London has spent over a decade proving that art collecting doesn’t have to be an exercise in snobbery, and for its biggest edition yet, it’s leaning even harder into that ethos. Hosted once again at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane—an area that’s long balanced historic grit with contemporary cool—the fair presents 175 independent artists alongside immersive installations, live performances and the kind of party atmosphere that most other fairs wouldn’t dare attempt. Founded in 2011 by Ryan Stanier and now backed by Saatchi Art, The Other Art Fair was designed to cut out the middlemen and make buying art less intimidating, and this year’s lineup makes sure no one forgets it. This year’s guest artist Tess Smith-Roberts brings her humor-infused, fruit-obsessed illustrations, while the award-winning English winemakers Black Chalk Wine turn art appreciation into a full sensory experience with live mural creations, tastings and creative workshops. Throw in DJ sets, a fully stocked bar and enough interactive elements to keep visitors engaged long after they’ve made a purchase, and you get a fair that feels more like a party.
ARCOmadrid 2025
March 5-9
ARCOmadrid has spent forty-four years proving that Spain’s contemporary art scene isn’t just a warm-up act for Basel, and in 2025, it’s doubling down with a program that veers from the traditional fair playbook. Under the direction of Maribel López, the fair continues to sprawl across IFEMA Madrid, pulling in more than 200 galleries from 36 countries and attracting a staggering 90,000 visitors who come for the art but stay for the discourse. “One of the focuses is presenting the Spanish art scene and the Portuguese art scene in-depth and at the same level of importance. So, the fair’s core of the Iberian Peninsula is present. At the same time, we want to open dialogues with Europe and Latin America,” López told Observer earlier this month. This year’s thematic centerpiece, Wametise: Ideas for an Amazofuturism, curated by Denilson Baniwa and María Wills, brings a speculative lens to the Amazon, exploring hybrid existences that blur the lines between human, plant and metaphysical bodies. The General Programme still anchors the fair with its usual blue-chip offerings, but the curated sections are where things get interesting. Opening. New Galleries gives a spotlight to spaces under seven years old, handpicked by curators Cristina Anglada and Anissa Touati, while Profiles | Latin American Art, led by José Esparza Chong Cuy, keeps ARCOmadrid’s deep-rooted ties to Latin America firmly intact.
TEFAF Maastricht 2025
March 15-20
TEFAF Maastricht is a must-visit March art event and something of an endurance test for the world’s most serious collectors, with its works spanning 7,000 years of human creativity. Every year, this city on the southern tip of the Netherlands transforms into a place where museum curators and high-net-worth art obsessives spend a week pretending they’re not silently competing for the same Rembrandt. Since 1988, the fair has transformed the MECC Maastricht into a high-stakes marketplace where in 2025, more than 275 galleries from twenty-one countries will present everything from Old Masters to antiquities to pieces that look like they belong in the Met rather than a billionaire’s dining room. This year’s “First Look” preview teases forty-nine major works, including new pieces from first-time exhibitor Marianne Boesky Gallery, whose Danielle Mckinney paintings nod to Edward Hopper’s brand of quiet introspection. And because no TEFAF is complete without a blockbuster sale, Bill Rau of M.S. Rau—who last year offloaded a Van Gogh for €4.5 million—returns with another, Still Life with Two Sacks and a Bottle, alongside a Monet, a Chagall and a Gauguin for good measure.
Lille Art Up! 2025
March 13-16
Lille Art Up! may not have the flash of Paris or the market clout of Basel, but for its 17th edition, it continues to carve out a space as one of Europe’s more intriguing contemporary art fairs—unafraid to embrace rawness, experimentation and a certain industrial poetry. Held annually in Lille, a city that thrives on cultural crosscurrents, the fair has built a reputation for mixing traditional mediums with new, boundary-pushing digital work, attracting 30,000 visitors who are willing to venture beyond the usual art-world capitals. This year’s theme, Liberating Matter, plays out across the THEMA section, with an exhibition on Eugène Leroy’s visceral engagement with material, while the INTERFACE section, introduced in 2022, continues to spotlight emerging artists reshaping contemporary discourse. Expect works from Annelies Van Damme, whose raw textures and confrontational subjects interrogate sexualization and violence; Bram Braam, who transforms discarded urban materials into poetic sculptures; and Taylor A. White, whose paint, text and stitched canvas pieces collide in compositions that seem dictated by the materials themselves. Highlights include the fair’s Art Night events that deliver a live-wire mix of performances and in-the-moment creations, turning the fair into an interactive experience rather than a static display, and the free guided tours given by cultural mediation students from the Université Catholique de Lille.
Affordable Art Fair New York 2025
March 19-23
The Affordable Art Fair New York returns this March, once again proving that the city’s insatiable appetite for art doesn’t have to come with a six-figure price tag. Held biannually at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea, the fair has carved out a niche as a genuinely accessible entry point for buyers looking to break into collecting—an ethos reflected in the 400+ artists and seventy-eight art galleries offering works priced as low as a few hundred dollars. It’s an art fair that actually wants you to touch the merchandise (or at least consider buying it), with interactive workshops, live demonstrations and a welcoming vibe designed to appeal to both seasoned collectors and first-time buyers. This year, the Fellowship Program is making waves with a standout lineup from female-owned galleries like Warnes Contemporary, Harsh Collective and SHEER, who are championing fresh talent in New York’s ever-expanding creative ecosystem. Artists to watch include Mayowa Nwadike, whose mixed-media works explore African symbolism and masculinity, and Alanis Forde, a Barbadian surrealist portraitist. Asari Aibangbee brings a fiber-based practice centered on Black queer experiences, while Juliette Vaissière turns consumerism into an art form with her trompe l’oeil compositions.
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary 2025
March 20-23
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary is back for its eighth edition in 2025, once again serving as South Florida’s ritziest winter art pit stop—conveniently timed to coincide with the Palm Beach International Boat Show, because why not shop for a Warhol while closing on a new yacht? Founded by nick korniloff in 2017, the fair has quickly solidified its reputation as the go-to event for deep-pocketed collectors who want their art with a side of ocean breeze and exclusivity. Presented by Art Miami, PBM+C delivers a carefully manicured mix of modern, contemporary, post-war and pop-era works, all housed within a bespoke pavilion designed to be elegant without being too pretentious. The result is a surprisingly unstuffy marketplace where museum professionals, art advisors and seasoned collectors browse through a curated selection from leading international galleries, all while enjoying this art fair’s proximity to luxury waterfront indulgences.
The Other Art Fair Chicago 2025
March 27-30
The Other Art Fair Chicago isn’t here to coddle the blue-chip crowd—it’s here to throw a party. Back for 2025 with more than 115 emerging artists, the fair has built a reputation for mixing boundary-pushing yet accessibly priced work with a carnival-like atmosphere of immersive installations, live performances, DJ sets and even food trucks. This year, it’s adding an Artisan Section featuring a dozen artists working in ceramic, glass, metal and wood, further blurring the lines between fine art and craft. As the only global fair exclusively showcasing independent artists, The Other Art Fair has worked with over 3,000 talents across twenty countries since launching in 2011, expanding to twelve editions a year across the U.K., U.S. and Australia. It prides itself on being a breeding ground for creative thinkers, game changers and pleasure seekers—less about the stiff traditionalist gallery model and more about forging actual connections between artists and buyers.
Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair 2025
March 27-30
Powerhouse Arts is rolling out the Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair because, apparently, the borough’s booming printmaking community deserves a dedicated stage. Teaming up with the crew behind the Baltimore Fine Art Print Fair, the inaugural edition lands in Powerhouse’s cavernous 22,517-square-foot Grand Hall, making room for forty galleries and print publishers, plus another 30 book arts specialists, indie artists and academic printmaking programs in the Loft space. The goal? To expand the market for fine art prints while keeping things accessible is a lofty mission in an industry that has spent decades catering to insiders. If the fair succeeds, it’ll serve as a launchpad for new collectors and a proving ground for experimental printmakers—if not, well, at least this year’s attendees can walk away with a hands-on lesson in stone lithography from Fiacco or a guided tour with a master printer. In a statement, Powerhouse Printshop Director Luther Davis, a veteran of the trade, waxed nostalgic about his first print fair experience two decades ago, hoping to rekindle that same sense of community here. Whether Brooklyn’s newest art fair can carve out a niche remains to be seen, but for now, it’s got space, ambition and enough ink-stained hands behind it to make an impression.
Haute Photographie 2025
March 27-30
Haute Photographie has never been interested in spectacle, offering instead a sharply curated, museum-style presentation that treats photography like the fine art it is. Now in its eleventh edition, the fair is making a calculated move to Rotterdam’s M4H harbor district, setting up shop in the industrial-chic Keilestraat, a fitting backdrop for a show that prioritizes depth over distraction. Founded by Roy Kahmann, this photo fair has built its reputation on an intimate, immersive approach—visitors don’t just skim past framed prints but engage with the work and often the photographers themselves. With over thirty-five independent photographers putting work on display, this year’s edition leans heavily into the future component of its “past, present, future” ethos, offering a lineup that spans fine art, documentary and experimental photography. Expect book signings, special exhibitions and enough talks to ensure that visitors leave with more than just a few Instagram-worthy shots. For collectors and photography obsessives, it’s not just another fair—it’s a rare chance to have actual conversations with the artists shaping the medium.
Art Rotterdam 2025
March 28-30
Art Rotterdam has always positioned itself as the place to discover new art, but with this year’s move to Rotterdam Ahoy, it’s making an even bigger play for international relevance. Fair director Fons Hof is betting on scale—more space, more artists and a broader mix of collectible and institutional work, all in a venue better suited to its ambitions. Since 2013, the fair has worked to turn the entire city into an art hub for its annual edition, and this year will be no different, with museum events, panel discussions, open studios and site-specific installations keeping things lively beyond the fair floor. The Prospects section, backed by the Mondriaan Fund, remains a cornerstone of the fair offering space for young artists, while Projections (video art), Sculpture Park and Intersections (large-scale installations) all return in expanded form. The biggest shift, however, is in the fair’s deepening international pull—half of this year’s exhibitors hail from outside the Netherlands, and the New Art section, dedicated to fresh gallery talent, is now 80 percent foreign. That influx is no accident: Berlin-based curator Övül Durmuşoğlu has reshaped the section into a destination for collectors chasing the next big thing.
Art Basel Hong Kong 2025
March 28-30
Art Basel Hong Kong may have started as an ambitious regional fair under the Art HK banner, but a decade under the Basel brand has turned it into an essential waypoint in the global art market’s relentless circuit. Under CEO Noah Horowitz’s watch, it’s no longer just the younger sibling of the Swiss juggernaut—it’s a cultural spectacle that pulls in an international crowd of collectors, curators and market players eager to take the temperature of the Asia-Pacific scene. The fair does what any Basel does best: big names, big price tags and the requisite blue-chip sheen, but with just enough regional depth to keep things interesting. Insights offers a tight focus on artists from Asia and the Pacific, while Discoveries serves as a proving ground for emerging names, featuring new works created for the occasion. Encounters, the sector dedicated to large-scale installations, returns under the curation of Alexie Glass-Kantor, ensuring that at least a few pieces will be designed to break Instagram. Hosted in the cavernous Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, the fair is as much about power-brokering as it is about art, with high-stakes deals unfolding in VIP lounges while everyone else navigates the sensory overload. Even if you’re not attending, it’s one to watch—because what sells here will tell you exactly where the market is heading next.
Art Central Hong Kong 2025
March 26-30
Art Central is a sharp, self-assured fixture in the city’s cultural calendar (i.e., Hong Kong Art Week) staged in an architect-designed structure perched on Victoria Harbour, within walking distance of the Convention Centre’s blue-chip frenzy and a ferry ride away from the M+ museum. Expect the usual draw of 40,000 visitors, the requisite symposia and oversized installations designed to photograph well, but the real juice this year is in two sections curated by Enoch Cheng. Legend, introduced for the fair’s tenth edition, places six heavyweight artists from the Asia-Pacific region front and center, spotlighting those who shaped the region’s contemporary art landscape before it became the market juggernaut it is today. Neo, now in its second year, has a more insurgent spirit—fifteen galleries showcasing thirty-three artists who haven’t yet cracked the big leagues but might just shake things up. Outside of the booths, don’t miss Roxane Revon’s Symbiosis, a mixed-media installation that fuses photography with living mycelium and roots, turning a childhood portrait into a slow-motion act of organic change. And for those still unpacking the relationship between techno-orientalism and the digital body, Charmaine Poh’s performance-lecture in the shadow of the cosmic collides avatars, A.I. influencers and Daoist philosophy into a meditation on selfhood in the era of deepfakes.
Even more March art fairs in 2025
As usual, what’s above doesn’t represent the totality of March art fairs in 2025—there are scores of smaller, lesser-known and niche art fairs happening around the world. Here’s a quick roundup of several more fairs you might want to check out this month.
Art3f Strasbourg 2025
February 28 – March 2
Hybrid Art Fair 2025 (Madrid)
March 6-9
Art3f Nantes 2025
March 7-9
Uvanity Art Fair 2025 (Madrid)
March 6-9
MIA Photo Fair 2025 (Milan)
March 20-23
SPARK Art Fair Vienna 2025
March 21-23
Art3f Lyon 2025
March 21-23
Salon du Dessin 2025 (Paris)
March 26-31
Drawing Now Art Fair 2025 (Paris)
March 27-30
Luxembourg Art Fair 2025
March 27-30
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