Thought Aspen's summer festival season was crowded? When it comes to art fairs, the week when July transitions to August is one of the busiest ever. Just ten days after the Downtown Aspen Art Festival decamps from Paepcke Park, the inaugural Aspen Art Fair descends on the Hotel Jerome with more than three dozen galleries and dealers showcasing work ranging from paintings and sculpture to installations to collectible design.

The event at the Jerome, which hosted a preview in March with a pop-up show featuring five women artists, promises to transcend the typical art fair experience by transforming 16 ground-floor guest rooms, as well as the hotel’s bar and ballroom, into ersatz galleries, each hosted by a different exhibitor. In addition to local galleries (Casterline Goodman and Galerie Maximillian), national and international galleries represented will include El Apartamento (a gallery based in Havana and Madrid), Galerie Perrotin (based in Paris, with six other locations worldwide), Chicago’s Patron Gallery, and London’s Ronchini Gallery.  

A day after that debut comes Aspen ArtWeek—the Aspen Art Museum’s annual lineup of performances, talks, and other events and activities, which culminates with its largest fundraiser, ArtCrush. Of note: 2024 is the museum’s 45th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of the opening of its Shigeru Ban-designed building.

The bevy of art collectors in town is undoubtedly what attracted Intersect Aspen, an art fair that started as a virtual event in July 2020 during the pandemic and shifted to an in-person gathering at the Aspen Ice Garden in 2021, returning this summer as the Intersect Aspen Art and Design Fair. Modern and contemporary galleries from around the world are slated to participate, including Todd Merrill Studio (New York), Jackson Fine Art (Atlanta), Winston Wächter Fine Art (New York and Seattle), and Galerie Gmurzynska (New York, Zurich, and Zug). Programming includes VIP tours, happy hours, and a forum exploring the importance of functional and collectible design in the Aspen community.
It’s safe to say that over a few days in July and August, this tiny mountain town isn’t such a small world after all. 

Downtown Aspen Art Festival 
July 19–21
Aspen Art Fair 
July 29–Aug 2
Aspen ArtWeek 
July 30–Aug 4 Intersect Aspen Art and Design Fair 
July 30–Aug 3