Pretoria Art Museum - Tshwane
The focus of the Pretoria Art Museum is on South African artists, both those long recognised and those who've only been given recognition since the end of apartheid.
The mission of the museum is to collect, preserve and exhibit exceptional South African Art, as well as hosting international travelling exhibitions. This allows local culture to flourish through art and ensures that SA's most talented artists get recognized. If you're not an art buff, visit it once and tick it off; if you are, keep an eye on the current and visiting exhibitions.
Democracy Wall
Take a sculptor (Neels Coetzee), a desire for symbolism (of the reconstruction of South Africa) and a mixture of building materials (from granite boulders and dolosse to porcelain electric insulators and wood) and the result is the Democracy Wall at the Idasa Kutlwanong Democracy Centre in Tshwane. Leave your own mark on the blackboard section, then rethink that plastered and painted brick wall round your house.
Pierneef
Struggling artists can take inspiration from the life of Pierneef. He had little formal training (he studied art in the Netherlands when his parents returned there for the duration of the Anglo-Boer War) and supported himself by working in the State Library and later as an art teacher. He was in his mid- 30s before he decided to become a full time painter.
Today his landscapes are a quintessential part of South African art history three years of his life were spent painting the Johannesburg Station Building (now the Transnet Heritage Library). His work is held in various galleries, but for a true homage, visit the Pierneef Museum in Tshwane.
By David Bristow