South African painter and poet Breyten Breytenbach dies

During his life he was notably sentenced to nine years in prison for his opposition to apartheid.

The South African painter and poet Breyten Breytenbach, a figure in the fight against apartheid, has died. He got “passed away peacefully this Sunday in Paris, at the age of 85”writes his daughter in a press release sent to RFI. “Immense artist, activist against apartheid, he fought until the end for a better world”she continues.

“Naturalized French in 1982 upon his release from prison, he lived in Paris, while returning regularly to South Africa. He was a Knight of the Legion of Honor and Commander of Arts and Letters. His words, his paintings, his imagination, her resilience will continue to guide us”concludes the press release.

Breyten Breytenbach was born in 1939 in South Africa. He grew up in an Afrikaner environment. His fight against apartheid marked his entire life and work. He studied fine arts in Cape Town, before settling in Paris in the 1960s. In 1961, he co-founded Okhela, a clandestine organization opposed to the South African regime. In 1975, during a trip to South Africa under a false identity, he was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison for terrorism. He wrote several works there, including Mouroir and True Confession of an Albino Terrorist. His main works include A Season in Paradise and Return to Paradise.