An art gallery (art museum) is a space or building for art exhibitions, mainly visual art. These galleries can be either private or publicly owned, and most often, they are used as venues for artistic activities like poetry readings, performance arts, music concerts. Another event commonly carried out in art galleries includes host themed temporary exhibitions which features items on loan from other collections.

Art in New Zealand can be dated back to over 800 years ago when drawings were done on limestone rock shelters with charcoal. Most of these sites are located in the centre of the South Island spanning from Kaikoura to North Otago. The drawings portrayed legendary creatures, reptiles, humans, and animals.

There are several beautiful art galleries in the world, and New Zealand takes a considerable chunk of them. Most art galleries in New Zealand exhibited European collections until the mid-20^th  century when some local artists came together and started their exhibitions. The 1970s paved the way for the creation of more public galleries that focused on contemporary New Zealand art.  Below is a list of the top galleries in New Zealand –