Predictably, the city’s first gallery was financed with the sale of a diamond. In 1904 Lady Phillips, wife of the first chairman of the Rand Mines Company, sold her 21-carat ring to purchase three paintings by Wilson Steer. Over the next 5 years, she wrangled money from her wealthy connections to purchase more artwork, and commissioned Sir Edwin Lutyens to design the elegant building that now houses her collection. It is unfortunate that the gallery lies in the rather seedy center of town, but you should have no problem if you drive in, and secure parking is available.
The rather dull Flemish and Dutch collections are made up for by the Brenthurst Collection of African Art, comprising curios plundered by European explorers in the 19th century, and later collections of traditional southern African artworks. Happily, despite ignoring black talent during the apartheid years, the gallery now also has a good selection of South Africa’s most renowned, including sculptures by Venda artist Jackson Hlungwani and paintings by Helen Sebidi, Alfred Toba, and Gerard Sekoto. That said, recent remonstrations in the press contend that a lack of artistic direction means that current artists are totally underrepresented.