Art Basel 2026: a temporary installation free to view at the Jardin de la Nouvelle-France

Not very well known to Parisians, it sits right beside one of the capital’s most iconic and most visited landmarks. The New France Garden lies between the Grand Palais and the Seine, along the edge of the Palais de la Découverte. It takes its name from a former French colony that settled in what is now the United States and Canada between 1534 and 1763. The New France Garden is laid out in the English landscape style: nature is the star, featuring a cascade, a stream and a pond, plus a rockery and a grotto-like construction.

In October, during the fair Art Basel, this Parisian garden becomes a open-air art gallery. The Art Basel fair is the must-attend event of 'contemporary art in Paris. To mark the arrival of this show, a broad artistic program is organized in Paris. Thus, several off-site exhibitions and installations can be freely explored by art lovers for the duration of the fair.

• To be read
• This week’s best bets for Sept. 21–27, 2026 in Paris and Île-de-France
• Free museums in Paris and free monuments in Île-de-France: the top cultural deals

From October 20 to 25, 2026, the Jardin de la Nouvelle-France will host a contemporary installation, freely visible along the paths of the green space. This work comes from Boz Deseo Garden, a Mexican-born artist based in Los Angeles. With his installation Celia, or the Misfortunes of Virtue, Boz Deseo Garden invites reflection on the heritage of slavery and how this history is depicted in public space. The sculptures evoke a lightning rod from the Bristol Channel, a pivotal site in the transatlantic slave trade.

Keep strolling: as you exit the park, head along Winston Churchill Avenue to discover more installations from the Art Basel fair in Paris.

Art Basel 2026: the lineup of off-site exhibitions to discover in Paris
What are these monumental installations blooming across Paris? They’re the works from Art Basel Paris’s off-site program, the must-attend event in the Paris contemporary art scene. From October 20 to 25, 2026, come and marvel at these unusual installations. [Read more]