The WHAG permanent collection consists of donations, bequests and purchases. The artworks range from Old Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 16th century, old British and French paintings, to contemporary South African art, which include categories like sculpture, paintings, works on paper, ceramics, tapestries, beaded items and traditional art forms.

WHAG’s institutional history is closely linked to the affinity of the founders of the institution for historical artworks. The thrust behind the initial collection effort can be described as Eurocentric, with a fondness for grand-historical narratives that omitted non-dominant and indigenous memory in an overall approach to curation that relied heavily on chronological representations of history.

Works from the permanent collection are rotated regularly to showcase the large number of artworks under our care.