A painting by Merlin Carpenter at Art Basel Miami Beach 2007. (Photo by C-Monster / Flickr)

Art Basel Miami Beach 2011 has arrived. While the fair has not yet opened--VIPs can begin to survey the wares on Wednesday, and common folk will need to wait until Thursday--art dealers, collectors, journalists and hangers-on have already begun arriving in town. The partying has commenced.

We will be reporting from the fair later in the week. Whatever your opinion of Art Basel, one cannot deny that it does succeed in at least one thing: providing a rich, overflowing snapshot of the state of contemporary art, or at least the segment of it that mingles with enormous sums of money.

Last week we offered a preview of the work that will be on offer. In case you missed it, here it is again, in four parts: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.