MadeleineVanManen

MADELEINE VAN MANEN

Madeleine van Manen graduated in 1989 with an NDip Fine Art (Painting) from the then Port Elizabeth Technikon (now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University). After leaving art school, she worked in the advertising and publishing industry for two decades, owned and ran a small gallery before finally getting an opportunity to start working as an artist full time. She currently works from her studio in Bree Street, Cape Town, focusing on painting and printmaking.

During her early career – before becoming a full-time artist in 2013 – Madeleine worked as a graphic designer, a freelance writer and journalist, a campaign manager at a large corporation and she did a short stint in the advertising industry before running a small gallery from her home for two years. She’s also illustrated two short story books.

From September 2019 until December 2023 she was a part-time art teacher at the Lycée Français du Cap. While she found this fulfilling, she needed more time and energy for her own art. On request, Madeleine presents small workshops in various painting and printing techniques.

Some projects included working with Lesedi La Batho (Mamelodi), a farm school in Durbanville, donating art to various causes as well as teaching two special needs teenagers (autism and fetal alcohol syndrome) on a one-on-one basis. Madeleine continues to contribute work to worthy causes through auctions and exhibitions.

Madeleine has been part of Creative Block with Spier Arts Trust since 2016, and recently also part of Union Fair. Spier Arts Trust has supported her career since then on an ongoing basis. Since the start of 2023, she has been part of The Printing Girls, which is a group of about 100 local and international women in printmaking who share skills and exhibit together.

She is also part of the Season Circle group with 9 other prominent women artists.

Solo exhibitions
Façade, 10 December 2025 – 8 February 2026, Sisonke Gallery Cape Town
BUILT, 18 October – 15 November 2023, Nel on Long, Cape Town
You Find Silence Where You Expect Noise, 9 April – 8 May 2019, Rust en Vrede Gallery, Durbanville

Collections
Private collections in South Africa, France, Switzerland, Belgium
Spier Arts Trust
Nando’s
Hollard
Spier Wine Farm
AT Kearny

Madeleine van Manen is both curating and participating in our current exhibition, The Architecture of Leisure.

A show exploring the everyday spaces of rest, pleasure and connection.

In an unexpected twist of fate, I have become the primary carer for my husband who is dying of cancer. This left me no choice but to move my studio from the Cape Town inner city with a view over the city bowl and Devil’s Peak, to our home where I now have a view of the street to the one side and my backyard to the other side. Although the view doesn’t change, I notice different things every day – how the light changes, how the seasons change and along with it my own mood reflecting in my surroundings. Our pool is the heart of festivities in summer and our patio has always
been a most joyful gathering place of family and friends. This is my foundation, my primary space of leisure, held by the architecture of our suburban home. This is where many find peace, belonging, reconnection and joy.

This is mine. This is ours.