PARIS.- The 19th edition of Drawing Now Paris, the contemporary drawing fair, brought together art professionals and drawing enthusiasts at the Carreau du Temple, reaffirming—on the eve of its 20th anniversary—the central role of drawing in contemporary art, a field the fair has helped shape for nearly two decades.

With attendance approaching 19,000 visitors, the fair offered audiences the opportunity to discover presentations by 71 galleries from 13 countries, providing a high-quality overview of current drawing practices, from the most classical approaches to the most contemporary and experimental forms.

Drawing is more central than ever in contemporary art

The press widely praised this year’s edition, highlighting the vitality of drawing and its ability to continually reinvent itself. Leading publications including Le Monde, Libération, Le Figaro, Les Échos, Les Inrocks and Challenges notably underscored:

— the renewed energy of the graphic medium;

— its ability to engage with new technologies;

— the fair’s role as a privileged space for experimentation and observation within contemporary art.

This recognition confirms Drawing Now Paris’s singular place on the international art scene.

From young artists discovered at the fair to established figures, with presented artists ranging in age from 24 to 97, the diversity of practices on view reflected a constantly evolving contemporary scene.

Stable attendance, growing VIP presence

Overall attendance remained strong, with nearly 19,000 visitors. This year’s edition was marked by a significant increase in the number of collectors, both French and international, as well as by growing interest from informed and engaged art lovers.

With acquisitions steadily increasing throughout the fair and a particularly successful weekend, sales were strong. Drawing Now Paris thus fully fulfilled its role by contributing to the enrichment of international public and private collections.

The 71 French and international galleries presented particularly carefully curated booths, showcasing previously unseen works or works produced especially for the fair, thereby reinforcing the appeal and high standards of this edition.

Collectors including Daniel Schildge, Alexis Kolnikoff, Evelyne and Jacques Deret, Thierry Forien, Antoine de Galbert, Charles Carmignac, Sarah Andelman, David Hervé-Boutin, Claude Bonin, the ING Collection and Oli visited the fair closely, with some making new acquisitions.

Representatives of French and international institutions linked to or dedicated to drawing were also in attendance, including Rebecca Lyons (Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, London), Isabel Seligman (British Museum), Irina Zucca Alessandrelli (Fondazione Ramo and Milano Drawing Week), Ricardo Nicolau (Serralves Foundation), Xavier Franceschi and Martin Bethenod (Cnap), Tobias Burg (Museum Folkwang, Essen), Hélène Audiffren (Carré d’Art), Alice Motard (CEEAC Strasbourg), Laura Skoler (New Museum, New York), Emily Renard (Bétonsalon, Paris), Bérénice Saliou (Frac Champagne-Ardenne), Carole Haensler (Museo Villa dei Cedri), Teresa Castro (Gulbenkian Paris), Julie Ulloa (Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace), Jenny Graser (Leipzig Museum), Elsy Lahner (Albertina Museum), Pascal Neveux (Frac Picardie), Grégory Desauvage (Musée des beaux-arts de Liège), Olivier Gabet (Louvre), Marie- Cécile Burnichon (DGCA), Serge Bellet (National Gallery of Canada), representatives of art lending libraries, Tania Cavassini (Swiss Ambassador to France), Ariel Weil (Mayor of Paris Centre), Claudine Grammont and Laurent Le Bon (Centre Pompidou), Nathalie Chaix (Musée Jenisch, Vevey Switzerland), Valérie Senghor (Cent Quatre, Paris), Paula Eisenberg (Fondation Emerige), Edward de Lumley (DRAC Île-de-France), Daria de Beauvais (Palais de Tokyo), Sarah Ganz Blythe and Joachim Homann (Harvard Museum).

As a catalyst for professional exchange, the fair also brought together numerous independent curators, including Jean-Marc Dimanche, Claire Luna, Alfred Pacquement, Marc Donnadieu, Bige Örer, Nicolas Bourriaud, Julija Palmeirao, Tessa Moroder, Domitille Bertrand and Lucie Ménard.

A programme that supports galleries while fostering new discoveries

The programme, particularly on Level -1 of the Carreau du Temple, reaffirmed its role as a forward-looking laboratory. Highlights included:

— the Art faber circuit, exploring artists’ representations of the economic world, in partnership with the Art faber Collective;

— the Parallaxe circuit, dedicated to raising the visibility of women artists in contemporary drawing;

— the Curare programme, offering the perspectives of two independent curators on the Inception, Process and Digital sectors, in partnership with the French Association of Exhibition Curators (C-E-A);

— the exhibition Digital Lyric: New Origins of Drawing, curated by Joana P. R. Neves, in partnership with Frac Picardie and the Centre national des arts plastiques;

— two series of performances by artists Lise Terdjman and François Morelli;

— a programme of talks and performances that enriched perspectives on the medium.

Strong momentum for participating galleries

Participating galleries highlighted:

— the quality of exchanges;

— the diversity of visitors encountered;

— the relation between drawing and new technologies

— an overall positive commercial dynamic, driven by an engaged and curious public and marked by more considered acquisitions.

The Drawing Now Award 2026

The Drawing Now Award 2026, sponsored by Conté à Paris, recognised the work of artist Chloé Vanderstraeten in collaboration with Traits Libres Gallery. A graduate of the Beaux-Arts de Paris and the École des Arts Décoratifs, Chloé Vanderstraeten collects scientific and technical iconography—from medieval medical treatises to the utopian architecture of the 1960s. She draws on this material to develop a graphic vocabulary that she diverts from its original functions in order to shape a poetics of the living body through drawing, sculpture and publishing. Using techniques of pattern-making, weaving and tessellation, she deploys bodily envelopes made of paper—a porous and sensitive material—through space to create shifts in scale that activate imaginaries at the intersection of body and architecture. Her sculptures reveal the interweaving of organic morphology and technique, while questioning the contemporary legacy of modern technoscientific imaginaries.

In addition to an immediate €5,000 grant awarded by Conté à Paris, Chloé Vanderstraeten will benefit from an exhibition at the Drawing Lab, in Paris’s 1st arrondissement, from January to April 2027. The exhibition will be open to professionals and the wider public during the 20th edition of Drawing Now Paris.