Rating and value of paintings and drawings by Gérard Sekoto

If you own a work by or based on the artist Gérard Sekoto and would like to know its value, our state-approved experts and auctioneers can help you.

Our specialists will carry out a free appraisal of your work, and provide you with a precise estimate of its current market value.

Then, if you want to sell your work, we'll point you in the right direction to get the best possible price for it.

Artist's rating and value

Gérard Sekoto's work is current and highly rated on the auction market. His works arouse interest among collectors and art lovers, particularly those who appreciate 20th-century painting.

The most sought-after pieces are his engravings and oils on canvas, which fetch record auctioneers' hammer prices.

A work by Sekoto can fetch millions of euros at auction, as in the case of his painting Yellow Houes, District Six, which sold for €597,800 in 2011, whereas its estimate was between €230,000 and €345,000.  

Order of value from the most basic to the most prestigious

Gérard Sekoto's style and technique  

Gérard Sekoto is known for a pictorial style in which humanity takes center stage, giving his works both a personal and universal scope. His scenes of daily life, often inspired by South Africa, capture social realities and human emotions with poignant sincerity.

His highly sensitive compositions combine a realism attentive to detail with a freedom of interpretation that reinforces their visual impact.

His carefully chosen colors oscillate between warm, vibrant tones, sometimes evoking the legacy of the Post-Impressionists, and more sober nuances that convey a certain gravity.

Light is omnipresent, sculpting the forms with delicacy, highlighting both the dignity of the human figures and the richness of the environments he depicts. 

His brushstrokes, precise yet imbued with a controlled fluidity, convey a sensibility that goes beyond mere visual representation. Each element, from the gesture of a character to the texture of a wall, seems charged with a meaning that goes beyond the frame of the painting.

What's more, his technical approach reflects a deep commitment: he doesn't just represent, he tells, he bears witness.

Sekoto manages to inscribe his work in a dual dimension: that of art, through a remarkable mastery of shapes and colors, and that of memory, by making the social realities of his time resonate through an artistic expression of rare intensity.

The life of Gérard Sekoto     

Gérard Sekoto was born in 1913 in Botshabelo, South Africa, into a family deeply attached to education and culture, which had a lasting influence on his artistic career. From an early age, he developed an interest in the visual arts, which he cultivated alongside his initial training as a teacher.

In the 1930s, he turned entirely to painting, attracted by the possibility of translating social realities and human emotions through his art.

Inspired by working-class neighborhoods and the daily life of black communities under apartheid, he endeavors to depict scenes from his immediate environment with sincerity, giving his works a profoundly human resonance. 

His move to Paris in 1947 marked a decisive turning point in his career. In search of artistic freedom and personal fulfillment, he discovered the cultural effervescence of Europe, while remaining faithful to his South African roots.

This dual background enriches his work, blending local influences with international inspiration. Despite his exile, Sekoto remains deeply marked by the injustices of apartheid, which he continues to denounce in his paintings.

His work thus becomes a form of testimony, both intimate and universal, to the struggles and aspirations of a people. 

Until his death in 1993, Gérard Sekoto remained an attentive observer of his time, combining in his artistic practice a social commitment and an aesthetic quest of rare intensity.

Focus on Le Marché, Gérard Sekoto  

In Gérard Sekoto's Le Marché, particular attention is paid to the composition and texture of forms, where figuration is echoed in a style deeply rooted in social reality.

In 1946, at a time when the artist was immersing himself in European influences, notably social realism, and in South Africa's own preoccupations, Sekoto chose to depict a typical market scene, where the human figures are treated not with the idealization of fauvism or the fluidity of abstract art, but with a rigor closer to the aesthetics of traditional engraving.

The palette, marked by earthy, nuanced tones, is sober, far removed from the flamboyant bursts of color.

In pictorial terms, this approach is reminiscent of the attention paid to texture, where each contour seems to work with light and shadow in an almost sculptural manner, similar to Picasso's formal preoccupations in his early cubist years.

The composition, at once static and dynamic, entangles human silhouettes and market objects with a simplicity that might be described as almost ascetic, but which actually reflects a keen sense of dignity and social truth.

Sekoto's touch, less subjective than that of other artists of his time, reflects a quest for formal and social truth that goes beyond individuality to express a shared human condition.

Gérard Sekoto's imprint on his period

Gérard Sekoto's imprint on his era is a rare fusion of social realism and the intimate expression of human realities. At a time marked by political and social strife in South Africa, he succeeded in integrating deep-seated tensions into an apparently simple painting.

His works, often centered on scenes from everyday life, reveal an ability to capture the nuances of human experience, particularly that of black South African communities, often ignored or stereotyped by mainstream society.

Through meticulously constructed compositions, in which each figure seems to stand out from the background yet is intrinsically linked to it, Sekoto brings out a form of visual testimony.

Far from adhering to the formats imposed by academic painting, he inscribed in his art a commitment to his time, reflected in his meticulous technique but also in his affirmation of human dignity in the face of oppression.

Through her treatment of bodies, light and space, Sekoto succeeds in placing her work in a broader context, that of the struggle against injustice, while retaining an intimacy all her own.

Thus, his imprint lies not only in the formal beauty of his compositions, but also in their ability to transcend the boundaries of painting to become an act of resistance and a tribute to marginalized lives.

Gérard Sekoto's stylistic influences

Gérard Sekoto's stylistic influences are rooted in a context where European art and African traditions intersect, creating a unique visual identity.

One of the earliest hallmarks of his work was his connection with modern European movements, particularly Fauvism (Vlaminck, Camoin) and Expressionism.

His use of bright colors and saturated tones, characteristic of Fauvism, imbues his work with a vibrant energy, as in his scenes of everyday life, where figures and landscapes are enveloped in an almost unreal light.

The fluid gestures of Expressionism are also echoed in his depiction of human bodies, often amplified in their emotions and postures, in a quest for social truth that goes beyond mere visual reproduction.

However, far from simply identifying with these movements, Sekoto infuses his art with a more personal essence, deeply rooted in South African realities, as did Albade Glover with his origins.

His work is a blend of influences, with a focus on simple yet powerful compositions, a legacy of the cubism and modernism that marked the art of his time.

The contrast between his European influences and his attachment to African cultural traditions translates into a hybrid aesthetic, where figurative art meets subtle abstraction.

The balance between raw emotion and rigorous form, which Sekoto masters with subtlety, reflects a constant dialogue between modernity and heritage, seeking to bring multiple realities together in a single visual space.

His signature

Not all Gérard Sekoto's works are signed. It is also possible that the work is a copy or that the inscription has faded over time, which is why expert appraisal is essential.

Appraising your property

If you own one of Gérard Sekoto's works, don't hesitate to request a free appraisal by filling in our online form.

A member of our team of experts and certified auctioneers will contact you to provide an estimate of the market value of your work.

If you are considering selling your work, our specialists will also guide you through the various alternatives available to obtain the best possible price, taking into account market trends and the specific features of each work.