Top 5 Places to View Art in South Africa

Top 5 Places to View Art in South Africa

The South African art scene is currently a thriving hub for new and established artists to display their finest work so, with some help from renowned local art expert and guide Brad Twaddle, we’ve listed 5 of the best places to view art in South Africa.

Zeitz MOCAA

Opened in September 2017, The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is the largest contemporary art museum in Africa and has instantly become a Cape Town landmark. It was named in honour of its lead patron, Jochen Zeitz, the former CEO of Puma and has been dubbed “the Tate Modern” of Africa for its immense size, boutique architecture and superior art collection. The nine-storey museum hosts an impressive 9,000 square metres of exhibition space across 80 galleries, a roof-level sculpture garden with glass floor, and an art preservation space amongst many other state-of-the-art features.

Norval Foundation

Situated in the Steenberg Estate near Cape Town, the Norval Foundation Art Museum is the newest addition to our list, opening in April 2018. It is a stylish visual art site, topped with a floating, wing-like solar roof, and it boasts one of South Africa’s largest private collections. The gallery showcases the work of 20^th and 21^st century artists and focuses on the research and exhibition of modern contemporary art, with stand out pieces including Irma Stern’s “Arab” (1939), Sydney Kumalo’s “St Francis of Assisi” (1962) and Serge Alain Nitegeka’s “Structural – Response II” (2014).

Keyes Art Mile

Located in the Johannesburg suburb of Rosebank, the Keyes Art Mile is one of the newest art and design hubs in the city. The area is made up of three main buildings, the Circa Gallery, Everard Read and the immense Trumpet Building. The Circa Gallery is an architectural landmark of the city, a distinctive oval-shaped building which was completed in 2009 and has won awards for its striking design. Its sister gallery across the road, Everard Read is Africa’s oldest commercial art gallery. Until the late 1970s it was based in downtown Johannesburg where it was considered one of the most forward-thinking artistic spaces in the city, and to this day the gallery remains a leader in the local contemporary art scene, promoting the works of upcoming and established South African artists. The Trumpet building is an impressive collection of art galleries and fashion and design stores, and hosts Cape Town-based WHATIFTHEWORLD gallery and SMAC Gallery. 

Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden

The Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden is an idyllic place to escape to and unwind when visiting the Cape Winelands region. The sculpture garden has been a project of Dylan Lewis’ since 2009 when he hired an excavator to mould and shape the surrounding landscape into its current form - as a beautiful 7 hectare sculpture garden. Immaculate attention to detail was paid during its creation, with every flora hand-picked to provide year-round colour. The 4km walkway takes you through over 60 sculptures showcasing the development and influences of Lewis’ career, he began with a focus on lifesize sculpts of the big cats of South Africa, and eventually moved towards a study of the human form, and these range from immense sculptures to smaller pieces.

The Art at Delaire Graff Estate

Delaire Graff Estate is a world-class art destination in the heart of the Stellenbosch Valley, offering mesmerising views of the Simonsberg and Jonkershoek Mountains and the chance for keen art aficionados to view some of Laurence Graff’s personal art collection. His collection showcases some of South Africa’s finest local contemporary artists, including Dylan Lewis, and the estate is also home to the incredible paintings and works of artists such as Fred Schimmel, Durant Sihlali, Cecil Skotnes, William Kentridge, Lionel Smit and Sidney Kumalo.