Johannesburg Art Gallery, Art museum in Joubert Park, South Africa

The Johannesburg Art Gallery is an art museum in a historic park with multiple exhibition spaces and outdoor areas for sculptures. The building houses works by artists from around the world spanning many centuries.

The collection was shown in London in 1910, then shipped to South Africa and displayed at the University of the Witwatersrand before a gallery existed. Lady Florence Phillips secured city funding for a purpose-built museum, and Sir Edwin Lutyens came in 1910 to examine the site and begin designs. The building opened without ceremony in 1915, just after the First World War began; east-west wings followed in the 1940s and the north facade in 1986-87.

The gallery displays works by artists from different continents and periods, including South African painters who were long overlooked in museum collections. You see both European classics and works by artists who shaped the local art scene here.

The museum is located in an accessible park where you can walk around easily and explore different areas. Visitors should set aside enough time to see both the indoor spaces and the outdoor areas with sculptures.

In 1940 the gallery became the first in South Africa to buy a work by a black artist, Gerard Sekoto's Yellow Houses. The print cabinet holds works from the 15th century onward, and the collection exceeds 9,000 pieces, larger than Cape Town's Iziko South African National Gallery.