Perhaps it is pure coincidence. More likely, it was the sale of a William Kentridge for R97,000 that set the things rolling. In any case, it is the result that matters. And the result is that these days you do not have to search high and low for that perfect painting to hang on your living room walls. All you need to do is sit in front of your computer and navigate to bidorbuy art pages.

Real treasure awaits you there. Let us start with one of the venerable South African Old Masters, Maggie Loubser herself. Touted by the seller as the best investment on bidorbuy, this beautiful painting of flowers in a vase is on offer for R395,000.

Next to Loubster is a signed Joan Miro lithograph, poetically entitled The month of the heart. No more need be said about this artist of international fame. The starting bid is R100,000, and there is no reserve.

Frans Claerhout , the artist whose work can be found in public and private collections throughout the world, is represented with two paintings. The bidding for a donkey pulling a cart starts from R100,000 is due to close in the matter of minutes. Therefore, if you are a Claerhout fan, make haste, or opt for a R85,000.00 view of a city with figures.

A Gregoire Boonzaier interior, which may be a part of his famous District Six opus, can be acquired for R48,000. Then there are two landscapes, both beautiful and very different: Willem Hermanus Coetzer’s R55,000 typically South African vista and Nita Spilhaus’ R45,000 suggestive rendition of a group of trees.

Now for something quite different: Jack Lugg’s modernistic The Kiss, with figures reminiscent of the cubist tradition. The bidding starts from R27,000.

Among all the wonderful artwork featured on bidorbbuy, surely the most touching is this portrait of a lady by an unknown artist. The story behind it is a sad one. This is what the seller says: My father bought it (the painting) from an alcoholic doctor in the 1960s. The doctor was in the habit of pegging it with a knife, (which is) the reason my father purchased it.

As a consequence of the sufferings inflicted by the abusive doctor, the painting is badly damaged.  It needs an owner who would be able to have it restored, for those fine features of a young woman are worth preserving.