Art Miami Turns 36: What to Know Before You Walk In

Art Miami has been running since 1990 — longer than most of the satellite fairs that now crowd the same week — and it still draws the collectors, the museum directors, and the galleries that actually move work. The 36th edition runs December 1–6 at One Herald Plaza, right on Biscayne Bay between the Venetian and MacArthur Causeways. If you are navigating Art Week and you only have time for one stop built around acquisition, this is it.

The Fair, By the Numbers

130-plus galleries. 25 countries. London, Paris, Berlin, Seoul, Hong Kong, Dubai, Istanbul, Bogotá, Tel Aviv — and more than 20 galleries from Miami and South Florida alone. The range runs from blue-chip modern masters and Post-War icons to contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, design, and new media. Primary and secondary market, side by side. The waterfront setting — Sundeck, multiple bars, VIP Lounge — is designed to keep you there all day.

Shepard Fairey Gets the Lifetime Visionary Award

The 2026 honoree is Shepard Fairey. The man behind the 1989 Andre the Giant Has a Posse campaign, the OBEY movement, and the 2008 Obama HOPE portrait — now in the Smithsonian — has spent four decades making work that refuses to stay inside gallery walls. He will formally accept the award during Art Week. His presence extends across the fair family: a curated presentation in the Art Miami VIP Lounge, DJ sets at the CONTEXT and Aqua VIP Previews, and a new exterior mural at the Aqua Hotel in Miami Beach.

The celebration dinner is Thursday, December 3 at Boulud Sud inside the JW Marriott Marquis downtown — menu by Michelin-starred Chef Daniel Boulud, with proceeds benefiting the Perry J. Cohen Foundation. Fairey designed the foundation logo himself.

How the Week Opens

Tuesday, December 1 runs in tiers. Platinum VIP Preview: 11 a.m.–1 p.m. (invitation only). VIP Preview: 1–4 p.m. (VIP passholders from Art Miami, CONTEXT, Aqua, Art Basel, Design Miami, and Untitled, plus press). General admission opens at 4 p.m. Both previews benefit PAMM. CONTEXT stays open until 9:30 p.m. on opening night — an hour and a half past Art Miami's 8 p.m. close.

Wednesday through Saturday: 11 a.m.–7 p.m. Sunday, December 6: 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Tickets are online only — no door sales. Water Taxi service runs nearby this year.

On the Calendar

Art Miami 2026 and CONTEXT Art Miami are both on the PGM events calendar. The full Art Week lineup — Aqua, Spectrum, NADA, Untitled, and the rest — is there too.

Thirty-six years in. Art Miami still sets the pace.