Provenance

Acquired from the artist by current owner’s grandfather and thence by descent.

Notes

The present lot was acquired from the current owner’s grandfather, who was an early supporter and friend of the young Pierneef, often purchasing his work to support him financially.

Pierneef’s landscapes remain among the most iconic visual articulations of the South African veld. This work captures one of his recurring subjects, the acacia tree, rendered here in brilliant yellow bloom, set behind a reflective pool of water, with rolling cerulean hills rising in the distance beneath a brooding, storm-filled sky. The tension between the vibrant blaze of the flowering trees and the atmospheric weight of the impending storm exemplifies Pierneef’s gift for transforming natural observation into poetic composition.

The artist’s subject is most likely the Vachellia karroo (previously Acacia karroo), known commonly as the sweet thorn. This tree, with its profusion of golden-yellow, puffball-like blossoms, can appear at peak bloom as though the entire canopy has been transfigured into a glowing mass of colour. Native to the savannas and open plains of South Africa, the sweet thorn thrives in areas where grasslands meet riverbanks or seasonal pans, often becoming a dominant presence in the landscape during flowering season. In Pierneef’s treatment, this natural spectacle is heightened to symbolic intensity: the acacias stand as radiant markers of renewal and rootedness, grounded in water yet set against the immensity of storm and sky.

Pierneef’s landscapes are not straightforward depictions but carefully orchestrated constructions. He often distilled the South African environment into clear structural forms and bold colour harmonies, shaping the natural world into an idealised, almost monumental vision. Here, the rhythmic repetition of the yellow acacias draws the viewer’s gaze across the canvas, while the tranquil pool introduces a pause of stillness before the eye moves towards the sculptural sweep of the hills beyond. Above, the moody cloud formations echo the acacias’ vitality with their own restless drama, setting up a dialogue between earth’s fecundity and the sky’s turbulence.

The acacia carried particular resonance for Pierneef. Its distinctive silhouette became one of his signature motifs, standing as an emblem of the South African veld and, by extension, of national identity. In his work, the acacia was not merely a tree but a cultural signifier. At once rooted in the particularities of place and elevated into a timeless symbol of endurance, belonging, and order. This symbolic use of flora aligned with broader currents in early 20th-century South African art, where the landscape itself was mobilised as a vehicle for imagining cultural identity. By foregrounding the acacia in bloom, Pierneef encapsulates both the beauty and permanence of the land, casting nature as a source of collective meaning.

In paintings such as this, Pierneef achieves a duality: he documents the natural particularities of the South African veld, its characteristic flora, terrain, and changing weather, while also transforming it into an enduring emblem of place. The blooming sweet thorns, fleeting in nature, here become timeless, embodying the cycle of seasonal abundance as well as the artist’s abiding reverence for the African landscape.

P G Nel (1990) J H Pierneef: His Life and His Work, Johannesburg: Perskor.

Keith Coates Palgrave, et al (1981) Trees of Southern Africa, Cape Town: C Struik.