HISTORY OF THE GALLERY

Heralded in 1888 as 'the first permanent Art Gallery in the Dominion', Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki remains the largest art institution in New Zealand, with a collection numbering over 15,000 works. These include major holdings of New Zealand historic, modern and contemporary art, and outstanding works by Māori and Pacific Island artists, as well as European painting, sculpture and print collections ranging in date from 1376 to the present day.

Today the Gallery sits adjacent to Albert Park in central Auckland.

  • The Building

    Heralded in 1888 as 'the first permanent Art Gallery in the Dominion', Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki remains the largest art institution in New Zealand, with a collection numbering over 15,000 works.

  • Fred Graham, Te Waka Toi o Tāmaki, 2011 Jurassic stone, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, commissioned 2010

    Māori commissions

    The Gallery commissioned three Māori artists to create permanent and enduring works in celebration of the building development.

  • Directors

    A list of Directors of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

  • Auckland City Council

    Auckland Council

    Auckland Council (formerly Auckland City Council) has been actively involved in funding and managing the Auckland Art Gallery since its opening on the 17th of February 1888, in what was then the Auckland Public Library building (which opened some months earlier in 1887).