It is 2023 and we are excited about the new records that the African art scene will set on a local and global scale. Art will continue to play a significant role in our lives as artists, art writers, curators, collectors, art investors, gallerists and enthusiasts. This is why we recommend that you visit, enjoy and immerse yourself in new and old works of art at the top 4 art museums on our bucket list.
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is a public, non-profit museum in Cape Town, South Africa that exhibits, collects, preserves, and researches contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora; conceptualizes and hosts international exhibitions; develops supporting educational, discursive, and enrichment programs; promotes intercultural understanding; and strives for universal access.
The museum’s galleries feature rotating, temporary exhibitions with a dedicated space for the permanent collection. The institution also includes the Centre for Art Education, the Centre for the Moving Image, and a project space for emerging artists. It is the largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, and it is located in the Silo District at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town.
- The University of Pretoria Museums
The University of Pretoria Museums aim to manage, conserve, and curate a broad range of museum collections and associated archives housed in Africa. These university museum collections are famous because they are one-of-a-kind and precious, with a big art collection, ceramics from southern Africa, and signature ceramics from across the world. The collections include works from South African sculpture and the iconic Mapungubwe Collection, a declared South African national asset. The Pretoria Art Museum also concentrates on urban and rural art, including paintings, sculptures, graphics, tapestries, photographic prints, and ceramics. It contains numerous exhibition spaces that are used to house concurrent displays of works from the permanent collection as well as temporary local and international exhibitions. The Pretoria Art Museum is an art gallery located in Arcadia, Pretoria in South Africa. The museum in Arcadia Park occupies an entire city block bounded by Park, Wessels, Schoeman and Johann Streets.
- National Museum of Ethiopia
The National Museum of Ethiopia, established in 1944, houses early hominid fossils, ancient Ethiopian archaeological items, regalia and relics from former rulers such as Emperor Haile Selassie, and artwork ranging from traditional to modern. The Ethiopian art display is quite captivating. It includes everything from medieval parchment paintings to modern art from the twentieth century. The National Museum of Ethiopia is most known for housing Lucy, a fossilized example of Australopithecus Afarensis, an early hominid species that lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. The National Museum of Ethiopia, also referred to as the Ethiopian National Museum, is a national museum in Ethiopia. It is located in the capital, Addis Ababa, near Addis Ababa University’s graduate school.
- Rwanda Art Museum, Kigali
The Rwanda Art Museum, Kigali used to be the Presidential Palace Museum. The museum houses contemporary artworks from Rwanda and throughout the world. The museum’s aim is to provide insight into the originality of Rwandan art. It investigates how traditional and modern ideas may mingle and fuse as it explores the evolution of art from antiquity to the present. The museum is located in Kanombe, about four kilometres from the Kigali International Airport. Although it’s the only contemporary art museum the country has at the moment, it is not the first art museum in the country. Inside the museum, one is greeted by artworks that were initially exhibited at Rwesero, in addition to other relevant artworks that were recently acquired from different Rwandan artists.
