Popular events include exhibitions by key contemporary artists such as Karel Nel, Johannes Phokela, Willem Boshoff and Marlene Dumas, the annual exhibition by the Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, and exhibitions by masters such as Irma Stern, Gerard Sekoto and Alexis Preller.

In 2000 the first show in South Africa of original works by a 20th century European artist was the Marc Chagall exhibition, followed by Miro in 2002 and the ground-breaking Picasso and Africa in 2006.