Art Miami Turns 36: What to Know Before You Walk In
The original Miami Art Week fair is back at One Herald Plaza, December 1–6, with 130-plus galleries from 25 countries, Shepard Fairey as the Lifetime Visionary honoree, and a waterfront setup that still beats the competition on sheer commercial energy.
Part of our ongoing curation of what it means to live, love, and play in the Magic City.
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.
Premier Guide Miami
The Live · Love · Play Dial
Le Jardinier Has the Best Art Week Tasting Menu in Miami — and a Dessert Inspired by Picasso
Le Jardinier at the Design District is running a $190 five-course Art Week tasting menu from December 1–6. The final course — a dessert called Chef's Kiss, created in collaboration with Le Jardinier Houston and inspired by the Picasso-Klee-Matisse exhibition at PAMM — is the most editorially interesting single dish in Miami right now. Thanksgiving runs $185 per person, 12pm–9pm.
The Convergence: November in Miami
November is the month Miami stops pretending it is not the most interesting city in the country. The weather breaks. The calendar stacks. The polo ponies arrive on South Beach. Olivia Rodrigo plays two nights. Shakira closes the month at Kaseya. Miami Book Fair takes over Wolfson Campus. And Art Week is three weeks out — which means the reservation windows are already closing. Here is what we are watching.
The Best Place to Watch the NFL in Miami Is a Wine Bar on Coral Way
La Bibliothèque By Chèvre on Coral Way runs a Sunday NFL Experience every week through the season — live games in a curated wine bar setting with sommelier-selected pours, artisanal cheese boards, and limited seating. It is the most civilized way to watch football in South Florida.
Fox's Lounge Has Been Open Since 1946. Resy Just Put It on Its Miami Seasonal Picks List.
Fox's Lounge in South Miami is a dive bar that opened in 1946, closed at some point, and came back. It is now on Resy's Miami Seasonal Picks list alongside Walrus Rodeo, Christy's, Mandolin Aegean Bistro, and L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. It is the only dive bar on the list. It is the oldest place on the list by decades.
Independent.
·Unsponsored.
·Always Free.
Premier Guide Miami has never accepted payment for editorial coverage. Our story →