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Cape Town’s arts community were up in arms in October 2025, when the Irma Stern Museum abruptly announced that it was closing its doors.
The artworks and artefacts held by the Museum are owned by the Irma Stern Trust, while the actual building – the former home and studio of the acclaimed South African artist – belonged to the University of Cape Town.
At the time of the sudden closure, the Trust and the University said they had agreed to part ways because the house, The Firs, was no longer ‘museum-grade’ and unable to preserve the works and artefacts held by the Trust.
“For 56 years, the museum has been a cherished cultural landmark, welcoming generations of members of the UCT community as well as local and international visitors from around the world to experience the vibrant artistry of one of South Africa’s most celebrated painters,” said an official statement. “Now, in the spirit of Irma Stern’s own adventurous nature, the collection will be embarking on a new journey.”
That journey, it turns out, is just a short way down the M3 highway.
Last week, the Norval Foundation unveiled ‘Irma Stern: A Life of Displacement’, a new exhibition of her works, which will run until 17 August 2026.
“Drawing exclusively on material from her extensive archive and Collection, this opening exhibition of the series forms part of a new unique multiyear collaboration between the Norval Foundation, the Irma Stern Trust and Nedbank,” says the Norval Foundation website.
"The partnership between the Irma Stern Trust, and the Norval Foundation in the form of this large-scale and in-depth, museum quality exhibition programme over the next two years, is the first such initiative to develop and extend Stern’s legacy and provide art lovers the opportunity to engage with her extensive collection in a world-class museum environment," added the Norval Foundation in a statement.
This exhibition is the first in a four-part series that will run over the next two years, while the Irma Stern Trust arranges a new permanent home for the works.
"The Collection is currently being relocated to a new custom-built storage facility, with museum-grade safety, fire protection, conservation systems, and archival storage. Until the facility is complete, some of the most valuable pieces are being stored offsite in a secure storage location," explains the Norval Foundation. "This careful transition ensures that Stern’s works — including Africa-inspired sculptures, East African artefacts, and her celebrated Expressionist canvases — are protected while The Firs undergoes the
required renovation and modernisation."
While that happens, the good news is that for the next two years, fans of Stern’s work can look forward to a series of shows that will explore Stern’s life, travels, archives, and collection. On display will be rarely seen works, travel artefacts from Stern’s personal collection, private documents, paintings, and works on paper created by Stern from Berlin to Zanzibar.
Who was Irma Stern?
Born in 1894 to German Jewish immigrant parents in Schweizer-Reneke, South Africa, Irma Stern’s early life was defined by displacement, flight and migration: themes that would later echo through her work. Moving between South Africa and Germany, she experienced an itinerant childhood that continued into adulthood, including art studies in Berlin and Weimar during World War I.
Her time in Europe was disrupted by the rise of Nazism and intensifying anti-Jewish sentiment, prompting her return to South Africa. Despite international recognition, she was treated as an outsider in a conservative local art scene. But Stern persisted, travelling to paint across Eswatini, Zululand, the Transkei, Senegal, the Congo and Zanzibar, repeatedly returning to The Firs – the home she bought in 1929 to regroup and exhibit. For decades, it has been a repository of her work and life, and a beacon for art-lovers looking to discover this remarkable woman.
Today, Stern continues to be a significant force in the South African art landscape and one of its most commercially successful painters. In the same month the Museum closed, a Stern portrait sold for R21.7 million at Strauss & Co auction. In 2011, her 1945 painting ‘Arab Priest’ was bought by Qatar’s Orientalist Museum for a staggering $4.9 million… approximately R34 million at the time!
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