MORE THAN PALM TREES AND SANDY BEACHES.

In Miami, the sunny metropolis of Florida, the US edition of Art Basel has been a fixture on the art calendar since 2002. When the newly-renovated Miami Convention Center opens its doors on 5 December 2018, it won’t just be exciting for art collectors and the super-rich. Although many people associate the city with a tropical climate, snow-white super yachts, the Everglades and Florida Keys, Art Basel’s spin-off fair from the Swiss city of the same name is now one of the most important events on the continent. It offers lesser-known artists, particularly those from South America, a gateway to the international market.

In 1968, the gallery owners and art dealers Trudi Bruckner, Balz Hilt and Ernst Beyler developed the idea of organising an art fair in Basel. The project became a reality on 16 June 1970, when almost 16,000 descended upon the northern Swiss city to attend the first Art Basel. It was unthinkable at the time that the 21st century incarnation of the fair would take place in three cities on three continents – Hong Kong, Miami and Basel – and attract up to 300,000 visitors annually. Today, Art Basel offers artists and galleries a platform to show their work and, if there is demand for it, the opportunity to sell to collectors, museum directors and curators.