The work of Marlene Dumas features the themes of race, sexuality, guilt and innocence, violence and tenderness. These themes feature throughout her portraits, each piece gaining a sense of heaviness, exuding an almost foreboding aura.The works tend to be figurative in nature rather, forgoing explicit realism in favour of swollen pot bellies and exaggerated ribs, giving them the appearance of being like xylophones. Some poses depict her sexual themes, for example, one painting shows a male figure graphically exposing himself toward the viewer, his expression appearing to be devoid of any hints of shame or embarrassment. Dumas' work originally was produced as drawings, prints, collages, installations and drawings. Although, she now mainly works with ink on paper, as well as oil on canvas.
A lot of her early work revolves around apartheid and the effect that it had, evidenced within her painting, "The white disease."