Cash-strapped councils are sitting on a $1.1 billion art goldmine
Sunday, 26 July 2026
Colin McCahon, Goldie, Don Binney: Impoverished councils around New Zealand are sitting on a $1.1 billion art goldmine, much of it unseen by public eyes.
The new figures, compiled by the Taxpayers’ Union via a swarm of official information requests, land as councils are trying to figure out how to deal with Government-imposed rates caps coming into force from 2029 while residents baulk at large rates rises.
The union argues that every dollar tied up in art could be invested in roads, pipes, or lowering the rates burden, but those in the art world say it is not that simple. Who, privately, would buy the in-situ and uninhabitable one-to-one scale model of a state home? How would a grieving family take the selling of a bequeathed painting? Portrait of a forgotten mayor anyone?
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A union analysis found about two-thirds of council collections remained in archives, office or other private spaces. Works, including a Pablo Picasso print in Wellington, “ratepayers may never be allowed to see”, the union says.
Auckland Council plus its council-controlled organisations have nearly 15,000 art works valued at almost $550 million.
The Taxpayers’ Union is releasing a report on council-owned art, valued at $1,124,967,604 across 71,686 pieces nationwide. Art-related costs nationally would be $15m out of council coffers this year, it claims.
“When councils own valuable works that are stagnant in storage or budget hundreds of thousands of ratepayer dollars on acquisitions while failing core services, something must change,” a draft of the Taxpayers’ Union report says.
Added a spokesperson, “Councils need to consider their art collection as an asset, like any other. For ratepayers' sake, they should apply the same financial discipline to collections. While core services fail and this Government has postponed a cap on rates, councils must recycle underused art assets rather than leaving ratepayers’ money gathering dust in storage.'
Of the just over half of the councils that did disclose details of high-end works, one of the most expensive goes to the Far North District Council with a Chris Booth sculpture in Kerikeri valued at $2.09m.
Other notable works include a Colin McCahon held by the New Plymouth District Council – “The days and nights in the wilderness, showing the constant flow of light passing into a dark landscape” – valued at $1.4m; and the $685,000 Dark Hoverer by Don Binney owned by the Invercargill City Council. The Taupō District Council has Goldie’s The Blind Woman of Taupō valued at $1.4m.
Auckland Council’s most expensive art work was a Michael Parekōwhai sculpture on Queens Wharf called The Lighthouse valued at $2.4m. Viewers can climb the steps and look into the work, a life scale 1950s state home on the exterior and light sculpture on Captain James Cook inside.
Auckland Council arts head Emily Trent said the vast majority of the city’s collection was with the Auckland Art Gallery. The council’s own collection had 386 outdoor pieces, some worked into bridges or overpasses, and 1213 indoor pieces. The vast majority were on public display.
Some of the indoor works had historical significance – mayoral portraits for example.
“Investing in arts and culture is absolutely essential for our society and the Auckland we all want to live, work and play in,” Trent said. Investment in that was as important as built infrastructure, she said.
In New Zealand’s “creative capital”, the Wellington City Council dared to consider selling some of its art collection two years ago. That $7m-plus collection includes a Pablo Picasso print and a large-scale work by Sir Toss Woollaston, gifted to the council in 1979 by Sir Robert Jones.
The council recently added $130,000 worth of art to its collection, with three art pieces including a foyer fountain installed in its new office. Councillor Nicola Young labelled the council “philistines” when the idea was mooted in 2024 and this week said the “modest” collection was better than hiring pot plants.
“Wellington prides itself as the cultural capital, and Wellingtonians should be proud of the collection that’s been funded over the years,” she said.
The budget for art was $30,000 a year, though not always spent and, while the collection was insured for $7.45m, its market value was about $5.45m.
“Some of our finest, and most valuable, works were bequeathed to council – for example, the magnificent Toss Woollaston landscape bequeathed by Sir Robert Jones,” she said.
“If the council starts selling these works, there’d be no more bequests. It's just a shame the public sees very little of the city’s collection.” It was, though, looking to hang some in the revamped, soon-to-open Town Hall.
Back north, Auckland Art Gallery director Zara Stanhope said its 13,412 works were “one of the country’s most significant public art collections”.
“Many works have been gifted to the gallery to be held in trust and cared for on behalf of current and future generations,” Stanhope said. But, with more than 130 years of amassing art, there was not enough space to show it. Currently, 2.39% was on show in person but all was online.
In the Far North, home to the $2.09m Chris Booth sculpture, in the middle of a roundabout at the corner of State Highway 10 and Kerikeri Rd, a council statement said it was handed to the council only after completion.
Te Haa o Te Ao (The Breath of the World) – aimed at raising awareness about climate change – is 12m tall with 55 boulders suspended by stainless steel cables.
“You are correct in the assumption that the sculpture would be a challenge to move or sell, given it was commissioned specifically for the site it is on,” the council statement said.
In Dunedin, home of the second-most valuable collection, a council spokesperson said the “vast majority” had been donated to the council-owned Dunedin Public Art Gallery. This included the gift from Wellington collectors Jim and Mary Barr in 2026 of more than 400 contemporary artworks.
Much of the earlier generosity came from wealth generated during the 1860s Otago gold rush.
“These gifts have helped build one of New Zealand's finest public art collections over more than 140 years. The result is a collection far beyond what public funding alone could have achieved.”
The council had also made some “strategic acquisitions” in recent years.