Auckland Art Gallery

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki holds the country's largest art collection, in a building that reads as two eras stitched together. The 1888 original is a French Renaissance pile on the edge of Albert Park; the 2011 extension beside it is glass and steel under canopies of kauri dropped over the entrance like a forest ceiling. The collection runs from colonial-era painting through the nineteenth-century portraits of Maori sitters by Gottfried Lindauer and Charles Goldie, now shown with fuller context about who was painted and why, to Colin McCahon, Ralph Hotere and a strong contemporary Maori and Pacific holding. European works fill the older rooms upstairs.

History

Established in 1888 as the first permanent art gallery in New Zealand, the building first housed both the gallery and the public library, opening with collections given by Governor Sir George Grey and James Tannock Mackelvie. Grey gave more than 12,500 items, among them 53 paintings, and Mackelvie's gift of 140 items, the core of the Mackelvie Trust Collection, got its own top-lit gallery in 1916 (Wikipedia, Auckland Art Gallery).

The main sights

• The kauri canopy - the 2011 extension's timber ceiling and light wells over the entrance atrium.
• Lindauer and Goldie portraits - nineteenth-century paintings of Maori sitters, shown with context on how they were made.
• Modern New Zealand painting - McCahon, Hotere and the postwar collection.
• The 1888 rooms - the original building's stairwell, timber detail and European holdings.

When to go

Open daily except a couple of public holidays, and quiet on weekday mornings. Weekend afternoons and rainy days bring families and a queue at the desk for whatever major exhibition is running. Albert Park outside is at its best in spring. Check what is actually hung before you go, since the collection rotates and a particular painting may be in storage.

Before you go

It is a good gallery rather than a great world one, and a focused visit takes ninety minutes, not a day. Entry conditions have changed in recent years and overseas visitors may now pay, so check rather than assume. Ticketed exhibitions can be small for the price, and the colonial portrait rooms sit uneasily with some visitors, which the labels now acknowledge.

Nearby

Albert Park is at the door, with the university, Karangahape Road and Queen Street all within walking distance.

Key facts