The artworks in the Transnet Art Collection are visual representations of social life in South Africa, and artistic ‘landmarks’, documenting the nuanced conditions with the rapid physical, economic, and political changes that arose with the developments. The art collection is not merely a simple reflection of reality; it signifies, communicates, and indicates our country’s turbulent history.

Artworks in the collection include Jacobus Hendrik (JH) Pierneef’s most acclaimed public commissions of 32 Station Panels, which were commissioned by the erstwhile SAR&H in 1929 for the Johannesburg Station. These panels epitomised the South African Landscape painting genre and remain symbolic pieces of evidence of the progress the country was making.

The collection includes the works of artists such as Maggie Laubser and Alexis Preller which were reflections of their times; paintings by Enos Makhubedu, whose township scenes are reflections of the hues of the vast realities which existed within our country, and photographs by Jorjen Schadeberg**, which document the contestations around land, ownership, belonging as mirrored in photographs of the Sophiatown forced removals, and activities of the liberation struggle.

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