There was a distinct sense of resonance at 33BREE this January as collectors and enthusiasts gathered for Cornè Theron’s long-awaited return to the South African circuit. The atmosphere was intimate, shaped by shared memories of the water bodies and landscapes that inspired this body of work.
For Cornè, the exhibition is deeply personal: it marks her first solo show on home soil since being awarded a “talent passport” by the French government in 2019.
A Personal Return
Nymphéas: Les Femmes Émergentes uses oil and mixed media to explore the legacy of water and myth. While it subtly recalls Claude Monet’s lily paintings — created as his own vision began to fail — Cornè’s approach is reflective rather than sentimental.
“I reacted emotionally to the thought of my grandma’s lily pond in the Free State while living in France near Monet’s legacy,” she explains. “Living between two worlds gives you a different perspective on what constitutes your history, your memories, and your roots. The work is a convergence of those thoughts and emotions.”
Water, Memory, and Myth
Cornè’s technique is a masterclass in patience. She paints in “pixels”, using glass to fragment her images so that no two brushstrokes are identical; even white placed against white reveals a different depth. It is a slow, methodical process that rewards viewers for lingering. Indeed, seeing the canvases through a lens — or a phone camera — reveals a hidden dimension of digital-like precision within the analogue paint.
In this body of work, water serves as both subject and archive. “It reflects, distorts, preserves, and erases,” she says. “Memory here is not about nostalgia, but a way of seeing. It is fluid, incomplete, and continually reformed.”
Inherited Knowledge
Beyond the aesthetic, the exhibition carries a profound subtext around the transmission of knowledge between women. Cornè reflects on the “mothers we inherit” — biologically, emotionally, and conceptually — and how our ways of caring and responding shift across generations.
In a world increasingly defined by the pursuit of digital perfection, her work offers a deliberate counter-narrative. “My work says we should slow down. We should pause and tolerate imperfections. We should have that tolerance for individuality.”
Exhibition details: Nymphéas: Les Femmes Émergentes is showing at 33 Bree Street (entrance on Waterkant Street), Cape Town, until 7 February 2026.
