Look carefully into the multiple layers of this chequerboard drawing (red watercolour) and there are shapes and lines waiting to escape the paper. Maybe even a flying horse. Close looking is encouraged in Drawing from the Collection, an exhibition showcasing the variety of drawings and works on paper from this gallery’s large permanent collection.

There are playful sketches, meticulous illustrations and drawings executed as preliminary to another work. There are detailed landscapes that can still be identified today and images of suburbs long demolished such as District Six; architectural, design and fashion drawings; portraits that capture the personality of the sitters and cartoons that lampoon people and many more.

Some works have not seen the light of the day in decades, others have never been shown and the favourites are included.

Image: Iziko South African National Gallery