Inside the Art Basel Dinner Honoring David LaChapelle at Serafina

During Art Basel, when the city pulses with exhibitions, openings, and late-night conversations, there was one evening that invited us to slow down. We gathered at Serafina Downtown Miami to honor our Art Basel cover star David LaChapelle, a visionary whose bold, surreal, and high-gloss visual language has shaped pop culture for more than three decades.

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

LaChapelle is known for images that feel otherworldly yet unmistakably human, blending celebrity, art history, fantasy, color, and commentary with fearless whimsy. His work has lived in magazines, in music videos, in museums across the world. He began under Andy Warhol at Interview Magazine and went on to photograph icons, direct, exhibit, and challenge the way culture sees itself. Having him with us during Basel felt like celebrating not just an artist, but a living force.

The Table

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

Serafina, at Miami Worldcenter, was the perfect setting. Warm light, full glasses, Italian spirit. Guests arrived to cocktails and wine, conversation rising softly, the evening unfolding with ease. Dinner began family-style, with bruschetta, crispy calamari, homemade meatballs, capers, and the crisp Di Sofia Caesar shared around the table.

For the main course, guests selected rigatoni bolognese, penne alla vodka, or fettuccine cortina, along with chicken Maillard, Hayden salmon, or veal al limone. It was the kind of food that invites one more bite and one more story. Dessert closed gently with homemade tiramisu and gelato.

A Moment for Tribute

After plates were cleared, speeches began. April welcomed David, his family beside him, along with partners from his gallery. Glasses of Louis XIII were then raised, and with them a reflection that compared artistic legacy to cathedral building. Those who begin rarely see the final result, yet they build regardless. Creation as devotion, art as endurance. The comparison felt beautifully true.

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

A Basel Close Worth Holding On To

Guests lingered long after dessert, warm in conversation and connection. It was a celebration of David LaChapelle, of art, of vision shared across a table.

A final note to Art Basel. Intimate. Memorable. Completely fitting.