Norval Foundation: Current Exhibitions Showcasing African Art

An internationally renowned centre for contemporary African art, founded by the Norval family, this art museum in the Constantia Valley is home to a series of world-class, purpose-built galleries, a sculpture garden, outdoor amphitheatre, restaurant and bar, as well as a children’s playground. The light-filled modern Norval Foundation building is in the heart of the Steenberg wetlands, surrounded by indigenous gardens, with a beautifully curated exhibition programme spotlighting artists from the African continent and its diaspora. For 2026 there are four inspiring solo exhibitions that demand a viewing…

Irma Stern

Entitled A Life of Displacement, this is the opening exhibition of a multi-year series exploring Irma Stern’s legacy. A collaboration between the Norval Foundation, the Irma Stern Trust and Nedbank, it ensures that the artist’s work remains available to view while the Irma Stern Museum is closed for restoration. Tracing the extraordinary life, journeys, and artistic legacy of one of South Africa’s most celebrated modernists, the exhibitions draw exclusively on material from her extensive archive and collection, including rarely-seen works, travel artefacts from Stern’s significant personal collection, personal documents, paintings and works on paper created across the many landscapes she inhabited – from Berlin to Zanzibar.
Date Until 17 August 2026

Portia Zvavahera

Tanda rima is the title of this exhibition of work by contemporary Zimbabwean artist Portia Zvavahera, which includes three new works. The Harare-based artist is internationally recognised for her deeply expressive and rhythmic paintings that move fluidly between the physical and spiritual realms. Drawing from dreams, memories and lived experience, her works give visual form to intimate inner worlds, resulting in richly layered compositions infused with colour, symbolism and emotional intensity.
Date Until 6 September 2026

Brett Murray

More than 80 sculptures are included in this solo exhibition of Brett Murray’s work. Wild Life spans four decades of the artist’s celebrated and sometimes controversial career, which has been marked by razor-sharp wit and fearless social commentary. The exhibition includes a fascinating assortment of creatures: primates, elephants, bulls, pigs and imagined hybrids. Each sculpture captures the contradictions of modern life – the comic, the tragic and the deeply human. Behind the polished bronze and marble surfaces lies a sharp observation of society’s foibles.
Date Until 22 November 2026

Githan Coopoo

With Tears Now But Heaven Tomorrow, Norval Foundation celebrates the late Githan Coopoo’s enduring contribution to contemporary South African art. A self-taught sculptor, Coopoo transformed clay into a medium of adornment, critique and storytelling. His innovative practice blurred the boundaries between craft and fine art, shaping fragile material into both intimate jewellery and commanding sculptural forms. His work carried tenderness, humour and defiance, revealing the strength in vulnerability and the beauty in fragility.
Date Until 4 October 2026

Norval Foundation Sculpture Garden

In addition to the marvellous art inside, visitors to Norval should definitely take a stroll through the Sculpture Garden. Surrounded by indigenous flora, the artworks by artists from Southern Africa and the African diaspora have been carefully placed, using the contours of the garden to hide and reveal.

Works currently on show include Yinka Shonibare’s “Wind Sculpture SG (III)”, Michele Mathison’s “Volition”, Nandipha Mntambo’s “Ophelia” and “The World on its Hind Legs” by William Kentridge.

Good to know Last admission 30 minutes before closing. Every Thursday pensioners get half-price admission.
Cost Day pass: R220 (African nationals)
R330 (international visitors)
R110 (18 – 24 year olds)
Free (under 18s)
Opening times Wednesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm
Sunday, 10am – 4pm
Contact 087 654 5900, [email protected]
Where to find it Norval Foundation, 4 Steenberg Road, Tokai, Cape Town
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