Many of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū’s most-loved and significant historic artworks are on display this spring in Timeless: Treasures from the Historical Collection. Opening on 19 September 2026 and running until 30 May 2027, the exhibition brings together works spanning centuries and continents, exploring how artists have responded to the places, people and ideas that inspired them.

Co-curators Peter Vangioni and Ken Hall say the exhibition offers visitors a chance to see many of the Gallery’s standout historical works. “This is a wonderful opportunity to experience some of the great treasures of the collection together. The exhibition reveals how artists looked to the wider world for inspiration, while also finding extraordinary beauty, subjects and stories much closer to home,” Vangioni says.

The exhibition is organised around four themes: artists working in Italy, Dutch masterpieces, Aotearoa New Zealand Impressionism and the influence of Aotearoa artists who travelled and worked overseas in the early 20th century.

Visitors will be able to see works by some of Aotearoa’s most celebrated artists, including Frances Hodgkins, Evelyn Page, Bill Sutton, Olivia Spencer Bower, Margaret Stoddart, Rhona Haszard, Leslie Greener and Sydney Thompson, alongside works by international artists including Petrus van der Velden, Meindert Hobbema and Gerrit Dou. Among the highlights is Petrus van der Velden’s celebrated Burial in the Winter on the Island of Marken (The Dutch Funeral), which is displayed alongside preparatory drawings and related works that provide fresh insight into its creation.

Curator Ken Hall says showing these sketches and studies alongside the painting helps bring the story to life. “They reveal the artist’s process and offer a more intimate connection with the people and events behind one of the Gallery’s best-known paintings. They reveal the artist’s process and offer a more intimate connection with the people and events behind one of the Gallery’s best-known paintings. When The Dutch Funeral was shown at the opening of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery in Christchurch in 1932, people queued to see it—it caused a traffic jam. Nearly a century later, it continues to draw visitors to the Gallery. That’s the remarkable thing about all these works. They’ve stood the test of time and still have the power to captivate audiences today.”