Ingrid Altmann

South African artist Ingrid Altmann breathes new life into forgotten artworks, transforming overlooked paintings into contemporary pieces filled with humour, nostalgia, and renewed purpose. After two decades in PR and years of part-time painting, she pursued a creative direction aligned with her passion for recycling, upcycling, and reimagining everyday objects. This led to her distinctive series, “This Old Painting,” which playfully bridges past and present.

Inspired by Tintin, Asterix, Garfield, the Flintstones, Snoopy, and other childhood favourites, Altmann sources unwanted artworks from thrift stores across the Western Cape. Many feature recognisable South African landscapes, coastlines, or historical scenes. By adding hand-painted, comical figures to these backdrops, she creates new narratives, rhythms, and purpose for each piece.

Altmann believes art should be accessible to all. By merging classical or dated South African scenes with universally recognisable characters, her work is joyful, relatable, and deeply human. “After everything the world has gone through, we all need something that makes us smile,” she notes.

Coming from a creative family, Altmann began painting at 21, experimenting with many styles before finding her voice — one celebrating reinvention, sustainability, and the poetry of the unexpected. Upcycling, for her, is not just artistic but a meaningful response to a consumer-driven world, preserving beauty and creating joy from the overlooked.

Her work evokes delight, nostalgia, and surprise, inviting viewers to engage with familiar icons in unfamiliar settings. One either loves it or does not, she says — but the invitation is simple: look closely, enjoy the humour, and see old South African paintings anew.

Ingrid Altmann is represented by The Artists Gallery in Cape Town.