The artist who brought South Africa’s countryside to life
Maria Magdalena Laubser was born on the wheat farm Bloublommetjieskloof, a few kilometres south of Malmesbury in the Western Cape, in 1886. The eldest of six children, she was a rather shy and lonely girl. Once she had completed her day’s schooling at the farm school and done her homework, she would ride out into the beautiful countryside, exhilarating in the freedom and wide open spaces. She also carried out her household chores and simple farming tasks such as attending to the chickens.
At the age of 11, Laubser entered Bloemhof Seminary in Stellenbosch as a
