PAINTERS from South Africa

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary South African Painters of all time. This list of famous South African Painters is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Marlene Dumas (1953 - )

With an HPI of 51.19, Marlene Dumas is the most famous South African Painter.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages on wikipedia.

Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter currently based in the Netherlands.

2. William Kentridge (1955 - )

With an HPI of 45.73, William Kentridge is the 2nd most famous South African Painter.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

William Kentridge (born 28 April 1955) is a South African artist best known for his prints, drawings, and animated films, especially noted for a sequence of hand-drawn animated films he produced during the 1990s. The latter are constructed by filming a drawing, making erasures and changes, and filming it again. He continues this process meticulously, giving each change to the drawing a quarter of a second to two seconds' screen time. A single drawing will be altered and filmed this way until the end of a scene. These palimpsest-like drawings are later displayed along with the films as finished pieces of art. Kentridge has created art work as part of design of theatrical productions, both plays and operas. He has served as art director and overall director of numerous productions, collaborating with other artists, puppeteers and others in creating productions that combine drawings and multi-media combinations.

3. Maggie Laubser (1886 - 1973)

With an HPI of 38.19, Maggie Laubser is the 3rd most famous South African Painter.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Maria Magdalena Laubser (; 14 April 1886 – 17 May 1973) was a South African painter and printmaker. She is generally considered, along with Irma Stern, to be responsible for the introduction of Expressionism to South Africa. Her work was initially met with derision by critics but has gained wide acceptance, and now she is regarded as an exemplary and quintessentially South African artist.