Best art destinations in Africa

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Africa's art offer spans an extraordinary chronological range, from the ancient rock art of the Sahara and southern Africa and the classical sculptures of the Nile Valley to the vibrant contemporary scenes emerging from the continent's major cities. The depth and diversity of African artistic traditions remains significantly underrepresented in the world's major northern hemisphere collections, giving art travel to the continent a dimension of genuine discovery unavailable elsewhere.

The continent's most significant museum and gallery infrastructure is concentrated in north and southern Africa, with institutions of increasing ambition and international profile developing alongside established colonial-era collections. Contemporary art scenes in several cities have attracted serious international attention, with art fairs and biennial programming growing in profile and drawing collectors and curators from outside the continent.

Ethnographic collections in the continent's major museums hold material of considerable significance but navigating questions of provenance and repatriation is an increasingly visible part of engaging with African art institutions. Your money goes a long way across most of the continent making extended art-focused itineraries practical even across multiple cities. Street art and public mural traditions in several urban centres have produced outdoor art environments of genuine scale that reward exploration beyond institutional walls.