The Beverly Hills Art Show returns to Beverly Gardens Park on Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17, 2026, with 250 artists across four garden blocks, ten categories of work, and admission that has remained free since the show’s origin in the 1970s. Show hours are 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM both days. We previewed the show last week from a high-level perspective. Six days out, with the load-in schedule firming up and the early acquisition map starting to clarify, the more useful piece is the one most collectors actually need: how to walk this show.

This is the article for the person who is coming on Saturday with an acquisition budget and wants to leave with the work they actually want, rather than the work they ended up in front of when they were tired.

What you’re walking into

Four garden blocks in the center of the city — running along Santa Monica Boulevard between Wilshire and Doheny — will host the 250 juried artists. Categories span painting (oil, acrylic), sculpture (mixed media, metal, stone), ceramics, glass, drawing, watercolor, traditional printmaking, photography and digital art, jewelry, and a tenth open-medium category that includes textile, encaustic, and assemblage work. All artists at the Beverly Hills Art Show are selling their own work — there are no dealer middlemen, no gallery markups inside the show, no resale walk-throughs. Every transaction is direct to maker.

The Wine and Beer Garden anchors one block with live music both days. Demonstrating artists work in their own stations along the show’s interior path. Food trucks and community exhibits run along the east edge. Children’s activities concentrate near the Beverly Hills Library end.

What you should know going in is that “free admission” and “open-air park” do not mean “lower-tier work.” The juried application process at the Beverly Hills Art Show has tightened in the last three editions; the work showing in 2026 includes artists who also exhibit at La Quinta Arts Festival, Sausalito Art Festival, the Smithsonian Craft Show, and SOFA Chicago. The category mix — particularly ceramics, glass, and metal sculpture — has historically been one of the show’s strongest sections for serious collectors, with several artists carrying secondary-market presence at the West Coast auction houses.

The walking path that actually works

Six days out, the most useful planning move is to fix the path before you arrive. Three thousand attendees can walk this show casually. A collector with intent should walk it differently.

Saturday morning, 10:00–11:30 AM: Start at the eastern block (closest to Rexford Drive) and work west. Energy in the booths is highest in the first 90 minutes — artists are fresh, the work is in its original installation, and the strongest pieces have not yet been spoken for. The early-Saturday window is also when serious holds and “first refusal” conversations happen. If you see something that matters to you in this window, do not walk away to “come back later.” A meaningful piece in a ceramics, glass, or sculpture booth on Saturday morning is unlikely to be there at 2:00 PM.

Saturday midday, 11:30 AM–1:30 PM: Slow down. This is the section of the day to talk to the artists you flagged in the first walk-through. Buying directly from the maker is the central distinguishing fact of this show, and it changes the negotiation entirely. Ask about the work — process, edition (if printed), conservation, framing, provenance of materials. The conversation is the value-add. Artists at this level are usually willing to discuss the work seriously, and the relationship that starts in a Beverly Gardens Park tent in May 2026 is the relationship that puts you on a studio-visit list in 2027.

Saturday afternoon, 2:00–4:30 PM: Acquisition window. By 2:00 PM the strongest material in each booth has either been bought or has had a hold placed. If you have decided to acquire, this is the window to close. Pricing at this show is direct-from-artist, often without dealer markup, so the conversation is usually less about discount and more about packaging, shipping, and conservation logistics. Plan the logistics now and you avoid the Saturday evening scramble.

Sunday, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM: Sunday is the day to re-walk for the pieces you flagged but did not close on Saturday. The energy is different — quieter, more deliberative — and several artists release their Sunday-only work that did not show on Saturday. This is also the right day to walk the photography, digital art, drawing, and watercolor sections more slowly. Those four categories tend to under-sell on Saturday because Saturday-morning energy favors three-dimensional and large-scale work; the Sunday quiet usually surfaces the strongest two-dimensional pieces.

How to budget across categories

The Beverly Hills Art Show is unusually broad on price. Original drawings and small-format prints start in the low hundreds. Ceramics and jewelry sit primarily in the $500–$5,000 band. Mid-sized oil painting and large-format photography move into the $2,000–$20,000 band. Sculpture in metal, stone, or large-scale mixed media often ranges from $5,000 to $50,000+, with several pieces in the upper band each year.

The mistake most first-time collectors at this show make is treating it as a casual-browse event and arriving without a budget envelope. The better discipline is to set a ceiling, set a category preference (most collectors at this show buy across two or three categories rather than ten), and walk with intent. The directness of the artist relationship at this show is the value. If you treat the show as a buying event rather than a window-shopping event, you will leave with work you want to keep.

How this fits the rest of the LA collector calendar

The Beverly Hills Art Show sits in a specific position on the West Coast collector calendar. It is the strongest spring touchpoint for direct-from-artist acquisition in Los Angeles, and it pre-figures Frieze Los Angeles in the late-winter window and Frieze New York at The Shed (which opened May 13 this year). For an LA-based collector who is building a serious collection in 2026, the Beverly Hills Art Show is the moment to do the studio-relationship work that pays off at the gallery and fair level for the rest of the year.

The asset-side read is also worth noting. The work that comes out of this show — particularly in ceramics, glass, metal sculpture, and small-format painting — moves on secondary markets with measurable price discipline. Several Beverly Hills Art Show alumni have been bought back into West Coast gallery rosters within 24 months of a strong show, and the secondary-market traction on those artists has been steady. For Beverly Hills clients exploring fine-art collateral or lending against original work, the Beverly Hills Art Show is one of the cleaner primary-market data points on the LA calendar.

The practical six-day checklist

Six days out, the work to do this week:

Look at the participating-artist list at beverlyhills.org and flag the 12–20 artists whose work you want to see in person. Cross-reference to studio websites and Instagram. Set a budget envelope and category priority. Plan the Saturday-morning entry from the Rexford end. Book a Beverly Hills lunch reservation between 1:00 and 2:00 PM. Plan shipping logistics ahead — Beverly Hills Art Show artists generally use national fine-art shippers, and pricing scales meaningfully with lead time.

Six days is enough lead time to do this right. Five days is enough. Two days is not. If you intend to acquire seriously at this show, the planning week is now.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Beverly Hills Art Show 2026?

Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17, 2026, 10:00 AM–6:00 PM both days. Beverly Gardens Park, Beverly Hills, CA. Admission is free.

How many artists exhibit at the Beverly Hills Art Show?

250 juried artists across ten categories of work — painting, sculpture, ceramics, glass, drawing, watercolor, traditional printmaking, photography and digital art, jewelry, and a tenth open-medium category.

Are the artists at the Beverly Hills Art Show selling their own work?

Yes. Every artist at the show sells directly. There are no dealer middlemen, no gallery markups, and no resale dealers in the show.

What’s the best time of day to buy at the Beverly Hills Art Show?

For first-pass and the strongest material, Saturday morning between 10:00 and 11:30 AM. For closing on flagged pieces, Saturday afternoon between 2:00 and 4:30 PM. For two-dimensional work and re-walks, Sunday morning.

Where can I see the artist list?

The full list is published at beverlyhills.org/artshow ahead of the show weekend, with category and booth-block locations.