Artist Database

François Krige was born in 1913 in Uniondale, Western Cape, the fourth son in a distinguished Afrikaans family that had lived in South African for more than ten generations. In 1927, he enrolled at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town and in 1934 he visited England briefly before joining his brother Uys (the poet Uys Krige) in Spain, where he continued his art studies under Daniel Vázquez Díaz at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. Krige travelled extensively on the continent, only returning to South African in 1937 where, along with Terence McCaw, Alexis Preller, Walter Battiss, Gregoire Boonzaier, Freida Lock, and Lippy Lipschitz, he became a member of the New Group, which represented the creative avantgarde of the time. During WWII, he joined the Union Defence Force and served in North Africa – Libya, Egypt, and Syria – as well as in Italy, as an Official War Artist. After coming home in 1944, Krige travelled throughout South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Lesotho. He studied the landscape and traditional ways of life of West Coast fishermen and the Southern San, an interest shared with Walter Battiss. While Krige did not adhere to any particular stylistic movement, the influence of European and South African impressionism, postimpressionism and expressionism can be seen throughout his oeuvre. In 1967, Krige and his new wife, Sylvia, settled in Montagu, for a simpler lifestyle. The new environment suited the artist well as it provided privacy and the peace to paint. The couple’s garden and vegetable patch became a new passion and provided key inspiration and subject matter in his later works.

During his lifetime, he rarely exhibited his art, so they were seldom seen by the public. However, after his death, the family converted his home into a gallery, with works on permanent display. Krige’s life and work spanned a critical time in South African art when the parochial local scene shifted and aligned itself more closely with international trends.