This year promises a feast for the eyes and an awakening for the mind at Auckland Art Gallery with its far-reaching programme of exhibitions and events.

A focus on European art will delight international enthusiasts with the Gallery’s two major exhibitions for the year featuring masterpieces from the Tate Collection and the Corsini family collection. Lovers of art from closer shores will relish the Gallery’s triennial celebration of the Chartwell Collection of contemporary New Zealand and Australian art, a new commission from artist Judy Millar and a touring show of New Zealand Cubism. A selection of Auckland Art Gallery’s important contemporary art collection from around the globe will also be presented in a new group exhibition.

The Body Laid Bare: Masterpieces from Tate
Saturday 18 March to Sunday 16 July

For as long as there has been art, artists have been inspired by the human body to communicate stories, emotions and ideas.  

Beautiful, sensual and at times provocative, more than 100 artworks from the Tate Collection, London, will tell the story of the nude in art and trace artists’ captivation with the human form over the last two centuries. The exhibition includes renowned European artists such as J M W Turner, Auguste Rodin, Pierre Bonnard, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman and many more. An internationally celebrated work, Auguste Rodin’s marble sculpture The Kiss,
1901–04, is travelling outside Europe for the first time for this remarkable exhibition.

From Botticelli to Caravaggio: The Corsini Collection
Saturday 2 September 2017 to Sunday 21 January 2018

From the private collection of the eminent Corsini family in Florence, Italy, comes this sumptuous exhibition which will include masterpieces by artists such as Botticelli, del Sarto, Caravaggio and Pontormo. The exhibition will also tell personal histories, such as that of the precious collection being saved from the German army in WWII and of the Corsini family’s determination to overcome natural adversity when Florence was inundated by the flood of 1966.

The Chartwell Trust Collection Show 2017
Saturday 13 May to Sunday 15 October

The Gallery’s triennial exhibition dedicated to the collection of the Chartwell Trust will present an exhibition focused on 10 contemporary New Zealand and Australian artists. It will explore how an artist might consider their current audience, a missing audience or one yet to be found. It will combine Chartwell artworks with newly commissioned pieces developed in relation to the exhibition’s theme.

Judy Millar commission
From Saturday 1 April 2017

A major site-specific commission by Auckland and Berlin-based artist Judy Millar will be installed in the Gallery’s south atrium. This large-scale artwork will respond to the dynamics of the atrium’s staircase, and will appear to change and provoke new and exciting viewing experiences.

Once Upon a Time in Art
Until Sunday 24 September

The latest family-friendly offering in the Todd Foundation Creative Learning Centre is Once Upon a Time in Art. This installation invites children to explore the world of symbols, as seen in the Gallery’s historical paintings, in order to create their own stories. They can explore weird and wonderful objects, create their own artworks, and become part of an artwork themselves with dress-ups and performance. 

Colour to Life: International Contemporary Collection
From Saturday 14 April  

This exhibition offers the opportunity to engage with aspects of the Gallery’s collection of contemporary international art. A room by room focus on artists will be presented, with featured artists including Hiroshi Sugimoto, John Nixon and Nike Savvas.

The Discerning Eye: Stefano Della Bella and Jacques Callot’s Printed Worlds
Saturday 18 February to Sunday 18 June

Prints flourished in 17th-century Europe, a period characterised by a passion and curiosity for art. French artist Jacques Callot (1592–1635) and Italian Stefano Della Bella (1610–1664) both used their innovative skills to forge a profitable niche within the print-market of the time. These etchings provide insight into the lively spirit driving the 17th century’s desire for prints.

Love, Longing, Loss
From Saturday 15 July

Desire, passion, devotion and grief are basic human emotions, yet the way in which they are represented in art may change within cultures across time. In this exhibition, European paintings and sculpture from the Gallery’s historic collections reflect on the diverse ways these emotions are expressed within art.

Charles F Goldie
From Saturday 4 March  

This exhibition will see a new display of the Gallery’s popular Māori portraits by Charles F Goldie, including an important new long-term loan from a private collection, A Chieftain of the Arawa Tribe Wharekauri Tahuna Aged 102, A Noble Relic of a Noble Race, 1941.

Touring exhibitions

Freedom and Structure: Cubism and New Zealand Art 1930–1960
Touring New Zealand institutions throughout 2017 and 2018

Auckland Art Gallery will also tour Freedom and Structure: Cubism and New Zealand Art 1930–1960 in 2017. This exhibition traces aspects of the impact of Cubism on New Zealand art, focusing on the works of three prominent artists, Louise Henderson (1902–1994), Colin McCahon (1919–1987) and John Weeks (1886–1965), among others. It will travel to Pātaka Art + Museum in Porirua, MTG Hawke’s Bay, Waikato Museum and Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

A selection of Māori portraits by Gottfried Lindauer will also tour to the Arts Museums of San Francisco de Young in September, to be exhibited alongside pieces from the institution’s own collection.

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Note: Dates and titles subject to change