Art Palm Beach returns Wednesday through Sunday, includes rare work by Pablo Picasso

Art Palm Beach is back, with new faces behind the curtain, new immersive experiences, a new charity to support, a focus on climate change and sustainability — and a major piece of art for sale.

This year’s event kicks off with a red-carpet gala Wednesday and wraps up Sunday at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. This is the first year the art fair, founded in 1997, will be under the banner of Scott Diament and Rob Samuels of the Palm Beach Show Group, owners of the LA Art Show.

This year also features a painting for sale by one of the most prominent artists exhibited at the fair in years: Pablo Picasso.

“We’re extremely lucky to have this for a show, and also to have it on sale,” said Kassandra Voyagis, art fair director for Art Palm Beach and the LA Art Show.

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Voyagis said she was contacted a few weeks ago by gallery Waterhouse & Dodd and told they had the Picasso piece, entitled “Tête,” French for “head.” The gallery asked Voyagis whether she felt Palm Beach would be the right market to show and sell the painting.

“I actually said, ‘I don’t think there would be a better one,’” she said, citing Palm Beach’s collector base.

“I think the community here could purchase a collector piece like that,” she said.

Los Angeles has younger collectors who skew more toward contemporary work, Voyagis said. Palm Beach’s mix of younger and more seasoned collectors trends more toward secondary modern work, she added.

Picasso created “Tête” in 1972, a year before he died.

“They say that it was kind of his own features, and with the darkness of it, he was thinking about his death,” Voyagis said. The piece is a work of India ink, wash and gouache on paper, and it is one of four in a series.

The work previously has been shown at the Tate Gallery London and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.

“It actually is an incredibly rare piece,” Voyagis said. It’s valued at about $2 million, she said.

Sister show

More than 80 contemporary, emerging and modern art galleries will participate in this year’s Art Palm Beach. The fair includes exhibits from galleries based in countries including Spain, France, Canada, Germany, England, Switzerland, Italy and South Korea, Voyagis said.

Local galleries with exhibits at Art Palm Beach include the John William Gallery of Boca Raton, Khawam Gallery of West Palm Beach, Paul Fisher Gallery of Palm Beach, Provident Jewelry of Jupiter, Provident Fine Art of Palm Beach, Robert Fontaine Gallery of Palm Beach, The Art Gallery of West Palm Beach and Yvel USA of Boca Raton.

“Being the first show of the season, there’s a lot of excitement and a lot of people in town to enjoy this event,” she said.

The goal is for Art Palm Beach to be the LA Art Show’s sister event, she said. Voyagis brings a new perspective to the art fair, with immersive experiences, a new charity partner in St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and a more contemporary look and feel, she said.

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Voyagis said St. Jude has been the charity partner of the LA Art Show for eight years and when she asked whether they would be involved in Art Palm Beach, they were excited to continue the collaboration. Fifteen percent of Art Palm Beach’s proceeds will go to St. Jude, and the opening night gala will include an appearance from a surprise celebrity guest and support of the children’s hospital.

Extending the programs from the LA Art Show to Palm Beach includes the program called DIVERSEartLA, which for the east coast fair will be DIVERSEartPB, Voyagis said. The program engages communities through art to ''generate innovative ideas and drive social change.''

This year’s program focuses on climate change and sustainability, Voyagis said.

“We did this last year in LA, and we wanted to create this program for two years because I felt we didn’t cover enough of it,” she said. “Most of the museums and nonprofits around the world are very in tune with that, and are creating projects and installations around that to create awareness.”

Among the exhibitions that are part of DIVERSEartPB is “The Echo of Oblivion,” presented by 2b Nonprofit out of Miami. The work is a collective project by visual artist and architect Guillermo Anselmo Vezzosi and scientist Eric Larour of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The immersive experience allows attendees to interact with data showing the changing water levels on Earth.

Voyagis and her team work to marry the traditional art show, with pieces for sale, with an experience that is more accessible for someone who may be a new collector or a first-time attendee at an art fair.

“It allows you to come and see artwork and galleries that you would not have the opportunity to see anywhere else,” Voyagis said. “I think that’s the fun and beautiful thing about the art show.”

Even if you haven’t bought a piece of fine art in the past, you could be a collector in the making, she said.

“You could start a collection with something that is valued much less (than the Picasso), and get educated and interested,” Voyagis said. “Walk through the hall, enjoy the different galleries and the immersive experiences, and just take it all in.”

If you go

What: Art Palm Beach

When: 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday for the opening night party; noon to 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. Early entry, VIP Gold Card, invitation-only and opening night tickets receive an hour early access at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Where: Palm Beach County Convention Center, 650 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach

Cost: $150 per ticket for opening night party; $30 for daily general admission. Tickets purchased online have the option to add a donation to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Information: www.artpalmbeach.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Pablo Picasso work to highlight the 2023 return of Art Palm Beach