SWA Landscape

Exhibited

Pierneef’s Kraal, Boland to Bosveld: Travels with JH Pierneef, Pretoria, 10 – 27 September 2026.

Pierneef arrived in South West Africa late in April 1923, staying initially with Toon van der Heever. He was immediately captivated by the endless horizons, the silence, the clarity and the colours of the landscape. He travelled the country extensively, worked breathlessly, and produced enough pictures over an eight-week period to mount a sell-out exhibition in Windhoek that opened on 20 June 1923. The majority of the pictures were small in scale – his travelling painter’s box could only accommodate small boards – and most were characterized by rich dusky and dramatic pinks and blues¹, such as in the present lot. The anthill to the left of the picture plane is also an iconic feature of Pierneef’s South West Africa paintings at the time.