A portrait by renowned South African artist Irma Stern emerged as the star attraction at Strauss & Co’s June Spotlight Sale, selling for R5.03 million (approximately RM1.24 million) during the prestigious art auction.
According to Time Out, the auction generated total sales of R12.7 million (around RM3.1 million) from 52 lots of artwork.
The standout piece was Malay Woman, a portrait painted by Stern in 1936 depicting a Cape Muslim woman.
Before the auction, the painting was expected to fetch between R3 million (about RM740,000) and R5 million (around RM1.2 million).
The artwork ultimately achieved the upper end of its estimated value after an anonymous buyer secured it through a telephone bid for R5,032,500 (approximately RM1.24 million).
The sale cemented Malay Woman as the highest-profile work of the auction.
International art enthusiasts have described the painting as an exceptional visual masterpiece, praising its calm emotional expression, which has drawn comparisons with the compositions of Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period.
At the same time, critics have noted that the work retains Stern’s distinctive artistic perspective, deeply rooted in South African identity.
