Art| A Giant Kermit The Frog Will Soar Over Place Vendôme During Art Basel Paris

October 15, 2025

Paris’ turn to host Art Basel is quickly approaching and some very interesting art features are being unveiled as patrons prepare to visit the buzzing city square of Place Vendôme. A nostalgic nod comes from artist Alex Da Corte who pays homage to the wisecracking symbol of American childhood known as Kermit The Frog.

A part of Art Basel’s Public Program will feature a hovering large, helium-filled inflatable of Kermit the Frog that will float above a multitude of smiling performers in Kermit costumes who will casually engage with visitors. It’s even suggested that among the crowd of performers, the American-Venezuelan artist Alex Da Corte, may be spotted showcasing a enthralling smile while dressed in a Kermit costume. Many of Da Corte’s early influences lead him to crafting such a youthful display for the global art event. His early interest in becoming a Disney animator along with Alex’s time at the School of Visual Arts in New York, has become a marriage for such a fun-fueled exhibit.

Being a student of art and historical moments, Alex in an interview details the historic moment of a Macy Day Parade that led to the re-imagining of such a monumental moment in pop-culture. Alex’s display is of course a inflated Kermit but with a deflated head which is a note to the 1991 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where the floating Kermit got snagged on something and left the head of Kermit deflated. This moment was a signature feature for Da Corte’s exhibition. In an interview with Art Basel’s Andrew Goldstein, Alex details that moment and how it impacted this ongoing exhibit.

Typically the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade would premiere a new mascot every year, say Snoopy, Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, Kermit the Frog. And in 1991, Kermit got caught on something, and part of his head tore. And what’s so curious is that, since only the head gets torn, only a part deflates. It’s between lives, between states.
Alex Da Corte

Kermit the Frog, Even by Alex Da Corte is presented by Sadie Coles HQ. This exhibition is open from October 20 to 26. Free access. Discover the Public Program here.