Rudolf Gopas (né Hopp,[1] 13 December 1913 – 23 July 1983) was a New Zealand artist and art teacher.

They were resettled in Dunedin, and Gopas found work as a photo-processor with Coulls Somerville Wilkie Limited.

[2] In 1953, Gopas left his wife and daughter in Dunedin and moved to Christchurch, where he worked for a photographic firm.

[7] Gopas was appointed as a temporary assistant lecturer in painting at the School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury in 1959, and took up a permanent position in 1960.

[2] Gopas was considered by his students to be a "lively and controversial teacher [...] His reputation was not based so much on his painting as on his ability as a talker about art, and as a stirrer.

[7] After Gopas' return to New Zealand in the late 1970s, his mental health deteriorated and he was committed to Sunnyside Hospital for periodic treatment.

Suffering from alcoholism, Gopas' condition deteriorated, and his left leg was amputated above the knee due to circulatory issues.

On 23 July 1983, two weeks before the scheduled opening of the first exhibition dedicated to his life's work, Gopas died of a heart attack caused by arteriosclerosis, at his home in Christchurch.