Museum of New Zealand

Te Papa Tongarewa

International visitor tickets

Free entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand

Audio descriptions

A selection of audio descriptions that have been made for exhibitions here at Te Papa.

Audio description of Eileen Agar’s ‘Woman reading’, 1936

Close-up of Mikala Dwyer’s The silverings, featuring inflated silver balloons shaped like zeroes

Audio descriptive introduction to Mikala Dwyer: The silverings

Listen to or read an audio descriptive introduction to The silverings by Mikala Dwyer. The artwork is a massive drifting sculpture installed at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, from 21 May to 18 September 2022.

Watercolour painting of an autumnal tree without its leaves. Three birds – perhaps sparrows – sit among the leaves. The tree is isolated in the landscape; hills can be seen in the distance

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Tree’, 1943

Audio description of Steve Carr’s ‘Watermelon’, 2015

A painting of a an impossible Wellington landscape, made up of tombstones in the foreground, boats in a harbour depicting Island Bay, and hills in the distance. A dove flies by in the middle of the frame

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Flight’, 1941

Painting of Rita Angus sitting with the ocean behind her and a yellow circle behind her head like an aura. She is holding a white flower

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Rutu’, 1951

Rita Angus, Cleopatra, 1938, oil on canvas. Purchased 1998 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds © Reproduced courtesy of the Estate of Rita Angus. Te Papa (1998-0028-2)

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Cleopatra’, 1938

Watercolour portrait of Douglas Kilburn. He is at the sea, a beach can be seen behind him and beyond that a vast ocean. He wears glasses and a lose-fitting casual-looking collared shirt

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Douglas Lilburn’, 1945

Self-portrait painting of Rita Angus. Her hair is clipped back, and she wears a purple top. She looks directly at the viewer

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Self-portrait’, 1947

Watercolour painting of a landscape. The bottom half comprises of low-lying green vegetation; beyond, gradual hills before a dramatic mountainous landscape beyond

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Landscape (Wanaka)’, 1939

Oil painting of a woman. She is looking to the left out of frame. She is wear a yellow shawl, an orange blouse, and a dark green jacket. Behind her are imposing mountains and a river

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Marjorie Marshall’, 1938-39/1943

Painting of two young girls sitting side by side. They are wearing red and white checked dresses and green cardigans

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Fay and Jane Birkinshaw’, 1938

Painting of a dense Otago landscape. Vibrant colours showcase the region’s hills, there’s Wānaka and its famous tree, and farmsteads and churches dotting the landscape

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Central Otago’, 1943-36/1969

An unfinished self-portrait by Rita Angus. Her face has been coloured in, but the rest of the canvas is a sketch. On her shoulder is a red moth and a green caterpillar. A woman stands in the background standing with a broom

Audio description of Rita Angus’s ‘Self-portrait with moth and caterpillar’, 1943