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Exhibitions and galleries
A small-town gallery five minutes away, a sculpture garden with mountain views and two of Africa’s best art museums within an hour.
From the villa
Six places for an afternoon of art, starting on our own high street, with driving times from the villa.
A custom-built fine art gallery in the centre of Somerset West, at 34 Oudehuis Street, showing South African painters and sculptors in changing exhibitions. It is open on weekday mornings and afternoons and on Saturday mornings; ask us and we will check what is hanging while you are here.
Ask us what is on
The studio and sculpture garden of one of South Africa’s best-known contemporary artists, famous for large-scale portraits and the bronze head Morphous. Visits are arranged through the studio, so check times and book before you drive out.
Plan a visit
A superb collection of modern South African art gathered by Anton and Huberte Rupert from the 1940s onwards, alongside French tapestries and Italian works. It is on Stellentia Road, entry is free, and there is a cafe, free parking and a garden.
Museum website
The old town centre has commercial galleries within a few blocks of each other and public sculptures placed around the streets by the Stellenbosch Outdoor Sculpture Trust. Pick up an art route map in town and make a morning of it between coffee stops.
Sculpture trust
A museum of twentieth-century and contemporary African art on the edge of Table Mountain National Park, with a sculpture garden, a wetland walk and a good restaurant. Easy to combine with a Constantia wine estate on the way back.
Plan your visit
Africa’s largest museum of contemporary art, carved out of the old grain silo at the V&A Waterfront. The building alone, with its scooped-out atrium, is worth the ticket, and the galleries change often enough to reward a second visit.
Plan your visitDriving times are approximate. Opening hours, ticket prices and exhibition dates change, and smaller galleries sometimes close between shows, so check before you set off. Photos: Norval Foundation by Allyjm, Zeitz MOCAA building by lumoplank, Stellenbosch by Steven Morrow and Martinvl, Somerset West by Andresdewet and Husskeyy, via Wikimedia Commons; photos show the area rather than current exhibitions.
Good to know
How we would put an afternoon together.
Start in Somerset West, where the Liebrecht Gallery is a five-minute drive and free to walk into. Add the Lionel Smit Studio if you have arranged a visit, then drive fifteen minutes to Stellenbosch for the Rupert Museum and the galleries around Dorp Street.
For the big museums, pick one. Zeitz MOCAA fits well with a day in the city and the Waterfront, while the Norval Foundation suits a slower day in Constantia with lunch and a wine tasting. Both take at least two hours if you actually look at the work.
The Stellenbosch Triennale and other local art events bring extra exhibitions to the area every few years, and estates such as Vergelegen and Lourensford often show art as well. Ask us what is on during your stay and we will find out for you.
See all our activitiesLet us help
Tell us which day you want to spend on art, and we will check what is showing in Somerset West, Stellenbosch and the city.
Book an activity