Life Force - The Still LIfes of Irma Stern

25 used, were eaten from the tableaux, as they are best when far gone! It’s so exciting to think of her association with her flowers and the choice thereof. People speculate about where they came from. The garden at ‘The Firs’ at the foot of Devil’s Peak is cold, shady and tricky. But like the house it has its own commanding mysterious beauty. Not nearly enough sun or the right soil for zinnias, larkspurs and delphiniums which often feature in her still lifes. Maybe I am making bold pronouncements, but after nearly forty years of association with this garden I hope that I am permitted to say that I doubt that these were grown here. Cape Town has always had many flower sellers and specialist growers of dahlias and chrysanthemums. Irma’s favourite ‘soup plate’ dahlias and fabulous spidery double chrysanthemums were possibly grown lovingly by others, and sold to her. Nowadays both these are rare, and a joy to find when you can. In the Irma Stern Museum collection we have three still lifes, they are amongst our most treasured works, we wish we had more but as can be seen from this exhibition they were highly prized and always sold from her exhibitions. It’s also a privilege to be able on occasions to recreate these still lifes from the items still in the collection and the magnolia tree is still flowering!