BASEL.- The 40th edition of Art Basel takes place in the museum-rich city of Basel, Switzerland from June 10 through June 14, 2009. As the world’s premier art show, Art Basel is the annual meeting place of the international art world. This year’s 300 exhibiting galleries from all over the world were selected from a record number of more than 1,100 applications and will be showing works by over 2,500 artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Art Unlimited hall, with its 60 large-scale projects, and Art Basel Conversations and Art Lobby, featuring internationally respected panelists, offer further highlights. The local museums have fascinating exhibitions (including Vincent Van Gogh at the Kunstmuseum Basel and Giacometti at Fondation Beyeler) and a broad range of events in store.

The 40th edition of Art Basel begins with a vernissage for invited guests on June 9 and opens to the general public from June 10 through June 14. This annual reunion of the international artworld regularly attracts some 60,000 artists, collectors, gallerists, curators, and art enthusiasts from across the globe, who come to see the most rigorously chosen overview of the international art market and to meet the movers of the international art scene. Covered by more than 2,300 media representatives, Art Basel enjoys a formidable reputation based both on the quality and diversity of the exhibited art works and on the show’s international audience.

Art Galleries
Over 300 of the world’s leading galleries will be exhibiting at Art Basel (a list of exhibitors can be found at www.artbasel.com. The galleries were chosen by the Art Basel Committee, an international jury of experienced gallerists, who arrived at their decisions on the basis of comprehensive preliminary information and several days of intense meetings.

Once again, the world’s leading galleries will be exhibiting at the show, for which 99 percent of last year’s exhibitors reapplied. This year’s strong roster of participants will be enhanced by a number of distinguished dealers of classical modern art and photography, and diverse young galleries. The galleries presenting contemporary art are joined this year by Johann König (Berlin), Dvir Gallery (Tel Aviv), Vitamin Creative Space (Guangzhou), Nils Staerk Contemporary Art (Copenhagen) and J Crist Gallery (Boise, USA). The lineup of galleries showing 20th-century classics is augmented by Knoedler & Company (New York), Galerie Zlotowski (Paris), Galerie Susanne Zander (Köln). The specialists in Art Editions are joined by Galerie Helga Maria Klosterfelde (Hamburg) and Galerie de Multiples (Paris), and the roster of photographic galleries is enhanced by the addition of the Pace/MacGill Gallery (New York) and the Galerie Zur Stockeregg (Zürich). After a brief hiatus, David Nolan Gallery (New York), Raucci / Santamaria (Napoli), Greene Naftali (New York), Stuart Shave / Modern Art (London) and Team Gallery (New York) also rejoin Art Basel’s exhibitors.

Art 40 Basel will be showcasing all forms of artistic expression, the repertoire extending from paintings, drawings, editions, and sculptures to installations, photography, performances, and internet and video art. Works from a few thousand franks by emerging artists will be on display alongside museum-quality masterpieces priced in the millions.