African art accounts for about R12 billion of the total global top-end art market valued at about R900 billion, according to the South Africa 2018 Wealth Report released by AfrAsia Bank and New World Wealth in April.

About R5.5 billion of the top-end African art is held in South Africa.

These are South Africa’s most expensive paintings right now.

1. The highest price ever achieved for a South African painting is Irma Stern’s Two Arabs, at R21,166,000.

Irma Stern has captured the attention of art lovers and serious buyers alike with her paintings achieving phenomenal prices, including the highest price ever paid for any work of art at auction in South Africa when the painting, Two Arabs, was sold by Strauss & Co for R21 166 000 in September 2011. (Picture: Strauss & Co)

2. Farm Jonkershoek with Twin Peaks Beyond, Stellenbosch by Jacob Hendrik Pierneef sold for R20,462,400.

Painted in 1928, Farm Jonkershoek with Twin Peaks Beyond fetched R20 462 400 at auction in 2017. (Picture: Strauss & Co.)
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