In 1913 Stern studied art in Germany at the Weimar Academy, in 1914 at the Levin-Funcke Studio[1] and notably from 1917 with Max Pechstein, a founder of the Novembergruppe.

These trips provided a wide range of subject matter for her paintings and gave her opportunities to acquire and assemble a collection of artifacts.

Almost one hundred solo exhibitions were held during her lifetime both in South Africa and Europe, including Germany, France, Italy and England.

Although accepted in Europe, her work was unappreciated at first in South Africa, where critics derided her early exhibitions in the 1920s with reviews titled such as "Art of Miss Irma Stern - Ugliness as a cult".

[8] From 3 November 2021 to 1 August 2022, the Norval Foundation gallery in Cape Town presented important paintings produced by Irma Stern during her two stays in Zanzibar during the period of 1939 to 1945, and commented on these works as follows:[9] Her heavily-laden brush deposits swathes of colour and a tracery of mark that evokes at times the sweep and syncopation of Islamic calligraphy.

The boldness of her impasto brushwork results in a tangible embodiment of her sitters and their contexts, such that her decision to frame the works using fragments of Zanzibari doors feels completely in keeping.