Auckland Art Gallery launches 2020 exhibition programme

Auckland Art Gallery Director, Kirsten Paisley, with newly acquired artwork: Nathan Coley, A Place Beyond Belief, 2012, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki gift of the Auckland Contemporary Art Trust.

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki today unveils a year of unmissable exhibitions with a programme for 2020 that includes five major international exhibitions alongside the very best of New Zealand art.

Auckland Art Gallery Director Kirsten Paisley says the 2020 exhibition programme heralds a new approach that will bring more major international exhibitions to the city each year, while continuing to present high-quality exhibitions of New Zealand art.

‘Auckland Art Gallery is dedicated to bringing outstanding art experiences from around the world to New Zealand and to sharing the best of New Zealand art with the world.’

‘We are excited to announce our programme for 2020 – which includes major artists such as Monet and Picasso – and to bring a reinvigorated approach to our role as New Zealand’s leading art gallery. Stronger and more ambitious than ever, we are proud to bring a suite of exceptional exhibitions to our local, national and international audiences. For the first time, we will be presenting five international exhibitions over the course of just 12 months. These exhibitions will showcase important movements and moments from art history and from the contemporary world,’ says Paisley.

The five international exhibitions coming to Auckland Art Gallery in 2020 are:

• Enchanted Worlds: Hokusai, Hiroshige and the Art of Edo Japan (February–May 2020)
  Extraordinary painted silk scrolls and folding screens illustrate the real and imaginary worlds of Edo Japan (1603–1868). Drawn from private collections in Japan, these artworks depict characters, places and fashions to give an astonishing view of the period’s culture and splendour.

• Civilisation, Photography, Now (April–July 2020)
  Featuring the work of 100 of the world’s finest photographers, Civilisation, Photography, Now illustrates our increasingly global, connected society, and encourages viewers to consider where we live, how we consume, what we make, and how we travel, learn, explore and control.

• Monet: World of Impressionism (August–November 2020)
  Experience masterpieces of French Impressionism from the Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris. Along with breath-taking paintings by Monet, the exhibition features works by movement-defining Impressionists Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Édouard Manet, and focuses on the development of what is one of the world’s most beloved artistic movements.

• Picasso: The Figure (October 2020–January 2021).
  From the incomparable Musée National Picasso, Paris, this exhibition presents an in-depth examination of the artist’s enduring fascination with depictions of the human body. The exhibition focuses on key moments in Picasso’s life and art making and highlights his creativity and drive to respond to the context and times in which he lived.

• Goshka Macuga and the Fondazione Prada Collection (November 2020–April 2021)
  Timed to coincide with the 36th America’s Cup in 2021, Auckland Art Gallery is collaborating with Fondazione Prada, home to a world-renowned collection of 20th- and 21st-century art, and artist Goshka Macuga to realise an extraordinary exhibition of international contemporary art.

Andrew Barnes, Chair of the board of Regional Facilities Auckland which oversees Auckland Art Gallery, says: ‘This is an exciting new era for Auckland Art Gallery, with big ideas and blockbuster art. We are delighted to support the Gallery’s new vision for 2020 and beyond, and to see such exhibitions make their way to New Zealand.

Next year, the best of New Zealand contemporary art will be showcased in The Walters Prize 2020 and in the 2020 Chartwell Collection exhibition. The year will also see a refresh of the Gallery’s presentation of art works drawn from its own collection with both a major rehang and a temporary feature exhibition, Rubble: A Matter of Time.

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