Art Toronto closes its 27th edition with fewer US galleries and a Canadian focus

Art Toronto, Canada's biggest art fair, closes its 27th edition today, Sunday 1 November, after opening on 29 October. The new director, Emily Jean Alexander, says there are far fewer galleries from the United States than in past years.

Alexander told The Art Newspaper that this year's fair is only down 5% in capacity. The fair has 105 exhibitors, and 80% of them are Canadian. Galleries from the United States and Mexico are still among them, along with galleries from Chile, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Europe.

For visitors who have not been to an art fair, a gallery booth is a small shop-window space where a dealer shows and sells works. Art Toronto fills about 20,000 square feet (1,860 square metres) at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in the city's downtown. The Art Newspaper, a London-based trade publication, reported that the edition reflects Canada's "elbows up" mood. The phrase, which means standing firm, has been used across Canada during recent trade disputes with the United States.

The first thing many people see on arrival is a large installation, Untitled (Watching) (1996), by the late artist Lynn Donoghue. It is the first work from her Caribou Tarp series to be shown in public. The fair's welcoming piece therefore brings a body of work out of private hands and into view for the first time.

This year a commercial gallery from New Brunswick, a province on Canada's east coast, is taking part in Art Toronto for the first time. That gallery is one of the fair's newer names, and its arrival is part of the Canadian emphasis the fair has set this year.

Art Toronto's 27th edition includes 55 Main Galleries and 16 Verge Galleries, according to the fair's own August press release. Verge is the fair's section for newer and emerging dealers, and it is a separate track from the main floor. The fair says it has more than 100 galleries, artists and cultural institutions in total.

Opening night, Thursday 29 October, raised money for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, a gallery in the town of Kleinburg, north of Toronto. It is Canada's only museum devoted exclusively to Canadian art.

Two other threads run through the programme. A series of talks called "Building a Stronger Arts Ecosystem" looks at how the wider arts community works together. Arte Sur, a section first shown in 2025 and curated by Karen Huber, celebrates art from Latin America.

Art Toronto has been supporting art in Canada since 2000. Its 2026 edition ends later today, and its next edition will show whether the smaller US presence becomes a lasting change or a one-year shift.