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Ghanaian painters

24 artists

Ghanaian painting grew with the nation. Kofi Antubam and Amon Kotei worked on the symbols of the new state at independence in 1957, and the art schools at Achimota and Kumasi trained painters who looked to Ghanaian forms and life for their subjects. Painters such as Atta Kwami, known for luminous abstract grids of colour, Owusu Ankomah, who covered his figures in signs and symbols, and Betty Acquah, who painted Ghanaian women and their lives, carried the tradition forward.

Today Amoako Boafo, with his finger-painted portraits, is one of the most sought-after painters in the world, and many younger painters show in Accra and abroad. Sharon Dede Padi made paintings by printing with real leaves, including a Guinness World Record. These are Ghana's painters, most looked-up first. See also Ghanaian artists and adinkra symbols.

Profiles

Sculptor

El Anatsui

Ghana · Nigeria · 1944–

Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui turns thousands of flattened bottle caps into shimmering metal "cloths". His life, his materials and where to see the work.

Painter and poet

Sharon Dede Padi

Ghana · 1976–2026

Sharon Dede Padi (Padiki), a Ghanaian painter and poet, set the Guinness World Record for the largest leaf-print painting. She died in July 2026, aged 50.

Artist

Ibrahim Mahama

Ghana · 1987–

Ibrahim Mahama wraps buildings in stitched jute sacks that once carried Ghana's cocoa and charcoal, and has built art centres in his home city of Tamale.

Painter

Amoako Boafo

Ghana · 1984–

Amoako Boafo, the Vienna-based Ghanaian painter, models Black sitters' skin with his fingers. His rise set off an auction frenzy; he founded dot.ateliers.

Painter, sculptor and designer

Amon Kotei

Ghana · 1915–2011

Amon Kotei, a Ghanaian painter, sculptor, surveyor and musician, designed the coat of arms of Ghana, approved in 1957. He died in 2011, aged 96.

Painter and designer

Kofi Antubam

Ghana · 1922–1964

Kofi Antubam, Kwame Nkrumah's state artist, designed the chair of state and other symbols of independent Ghana, and wrote Ghana's Heritage of Culture (1963).

More artists

Most looked-up first. Names link to our profile, or to Wikipedia where we do not have one yet. Short descriptions from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons. Image credits