The South African National Gallery’s permanent collection, which includes art from the colonial to the contemporary, is regularly rotated so that there is a full programme of temporary exhibitions of paintings, photography, sculpture, architecture, beadwork, textiles and works on paper. These are supplemented with visiting exhibitions.
Since 1990 it has worked to set up a collection that celebrates the expressive cultures of the African continent and it now has a respected collection of beadwork and indigenous sculpture. The Bead Society of Southern Africa was launched at the gallery in 1999, motivated by a need for a society in the south of Africa - there is one in Ghana and others exist all over the world - particularly as beadwork is the main means of aesthetic expression of women in South Africa.
The South African National Gallery began with a presentation of some 45 paintings by Thomas Butterworth Bayley in 1871, and since then has grown to one of international stature with wonderful examples of South African, African and Western European art.
Visiting hours is from Tuesday to Sunday from 10h00-17h00.
