Irma Stern: A Life of Displacement, Looking Closer to Home is the second exhibition in Norval Foundation’s four-part series tracing Stern’s life, travels and artistic development.
Curated by Karel Nel, the exhibition brings together works made in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Eswatini, alongside charcoal drawings and sculptures from Stern’s personal archive. Several of the works have rarely, if ever, been shown publicly.
The exhibition follows The Berlin Years, which focused on Stern’s early development and her time in Germany. This second chapter shifts the focus south, to a period when travel within the region became increasingly important to both her subject matter and the direction of her painting.
Stern spent much of her early life moving between South Africa and Germany. As political conditions in Europe worsened in the years leading up to World War II, her attention turned more firmly towards Africa. Journeys through southern Africa, followed later by travels to the Congo and Zanzibar, became central to the work she produced.
In Looking Closer to Home, that transition can be seen through landscapes, portraits and studies made across the region. The inclusion of drawings and sculpture also broadens the view of Stern’s practice beyond the paintings for which she is best known.
The exhibition opens on 2 October 2026, the date that would have marked Stern’s 132nd birthday. Further chapters in the series, focusing on her travels to the Congo and Zanzibar, are planned for 2027.
Stern remains a major figure in 20th-century South African art, associated with German Expressionism and known for her use of colour, textured surfaces, portraiture and still life. Here, the emphasis is less on the familiar image of Stern as an established modernist painter and more on the period of movement, travel and shifting attention that shaped the work around her.
Images courtesy of Norval Foundation and the Irma Stern Trust.
Exhibition Details
Curator: Karel Nel
Curator-led Walkabout
3 & 4 October 2026 at 11:00
Join curator Karel Nel for a walkabout through Looking Closer to Home and a closer look at the works included in the exhibition.
A valid Norval Foundation Day Pass is required. Norval Foundation members enter free and can RSVP via info@norvalfoundation.org.
