More than $800,000 worth of artwork is owned by Tauranga and Western Bay councils with most of it hidden from public eye.
Tauranga City Council owned 150 pieces which made up the Civic Art Collection with a net value of $800,000.
However, of the 150 pieces, only up to 20 works were rotated on display.
The most valuable item in the collection was a painting titled New Summer, Te Henga I which was worth $200,000.
It was the only piece worth more than $100,000 and was not currently on display.
Tauranga City Council communications manager Aimee Driscoll said the Civic Art Collection was looked after by the Tauranga Art Gallery.
Ms Driscoll said most of the 150 pieces of artwork the council owned were in storage after the discovery of weathertight issues in council buildings, but before this, most of them were hung in council buildings and rotated regularly.
"They are now mostly in storage and being cared for in accordance with best practice," she said.
There were no plans to purchase additional artwork for the collection at this stage.
However, if a member of the public would like to make a donation it would be considered.
All of the six pieces of artwork owned by the Western Bay District Council, worth a total $43,000, were on display.
Special art
New Summer, Te Henga I is worth $200,000.
The oil on hardboard piece by Don Binney depicted a bird hovering over the beach. It was almost a metre high and half a metre long.
The work was not currently on display but people could make an appointment with Jo Torr, registrar at Tauranga Art Gallery, if they wished to view it.
It was donated to Tauranga City Council by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2002. It was transferred to the Civic Collection in 2005.