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An alternative insight into the country
Urban art galleries
Artist's impression of the new WITS Art Complex.
© Gertrude Posel Gallery
Did you know?
The are many art galleries in South Africa, the biggest is The Johannesburg Art Gallery.
In South Africa, art galleries showcase a rich heritage of arts and culture. The range of art that is showcased in these galleries reaches right back into pre-history and forward to the most contemporary of modern art.
There is San rock art, the richly ornate colonial periods of the British and Dutch administrations, and the art works of the Boer republics. The apartheid era provided a rich vein of protest art from all sides of the political spectrum as well as neutral works avoiding the censure of an oppressive regime.
Some of the major art galleries in South Africa include the South African National Gallery (Cape Town), the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Gertrude Posel Gallery at WITS University, the Goodman Gallery, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, and the Durban Art Gallery.
However, there is a profusion of smaller, commercially-owned galleries in every city that can be visited and who sell plenty of top quality art works from South Africa to the rest of the world. Artists in South Africa are active in every niche of society, and their work can be seen everywhere from galleries, to corporate and public buildings as well as street vendors and street art.
South African art galleries are generally easy to find and well sign posted. For anyone seeking to examine more than just the scenic beauty of South Africa, or its political past, they provide a fascinating alternative insight into the country and its psychology.