Major Cape Town collection of South African paintings anchors Strauss & Co’s marquee live sale in February
By City Life Arts Writer
The culmination of Strauss & Co’s February energetic programme of auctions, exhibitions and talks, the live-virtual sale Portway to Cohen: A Collector’s Legacy and Other Properties (21 February 2026 at 6pm) brings together a focused selection of contemporary South African painting assembled by a discerning worldly collector, complemented by works from other properties.
The sale features important works by internationally recognised artists including Norman Catherine, Esther Mahlangu and Douglas Portway, each of whom has played a distinct role in shaping the visibility and development of South African art beyond the country’s borders. Catherine’s work was famously collected by David Bowie, Mahlangu was the only South African artist included in the landmark exhibition Les Magiciens de la Terre (1989) in Paris, and Portway made formative contributions to painterly abstraction in both South Africa and Great Britain.
Largely drawn from a single, thoughtfully assembled collection, Portway to Cohen: A Collector’s Legacy and Other Properties traces divergent pathways in painting from the early 1960s to the present. Mossel Bay (estimate R80 000 – 120 000), a 1961 marine scene by self-taught expressionist painter Gladys Mgudlandlu, is the earliest work on offer.
