Councils across the north and north-east are holding millions of pounds worth of artworks – but only displaying a fraction of it to the public.
New figures reveal that local authorities across the UK own at least five-and-a-half million works of art, with an estimated value of £2.3billion.
But some councils have as little as 0.02% of their art on display.
According to the figures, obtained using freedom of information legislation, Moray Council displays only 14 pieces out of their collection of 1,000, while Orkney shows just 95 of the 251 pieces held.
Highland Council owns a total of 142 artworks worth £11million, but did not disclose how many pieces are on public display.
Aberdeenshire has 611 artworks owned by the council, but the authority declined to say how many are displayed or what their value is.
The figures for Aberdeen, where the art gallery is currently undergoing renovation, were in some doubt last night although a spokesman admitted that most were being kept in storage as the redevelopment work progressed.
Last night campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance called on more of the art to be made available for public view.
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the group, said: “Public bodies and local authorities should make an effort to display more of their art for people to enjoy, and they also need to take a good hard look at their art portfolio and think about what does and does not need to be retained.”
But various councils in the north and north-east defended the collections.
Clare Gee, Orkney Council’s arts, museums and heritage service manager said: “Unfortunately, it’s impossible for us to display everything that we hold so we have to make choices about the pieces which we feel will be of most interest or relevance to the public.”
A Highland Council spokesman said: “The figures quoted for Highland equate to artworks including civic regalia (£4million) and museum artefacts (£7million).”
A Moray Council spokesman said that where possible, the artefacts on display were rotated.
An Aberdeen City Council spokesman said: “As Aberdeen Art Gallery is currently closed for major redevelopment work, most works of art are in temporary storage for safekeeping.”