After the establishment of the Museum in 1933 the creation of art collections started immediately mainly from the gifts from well-known artists, but also from the authors themselves. Valuable paintings by Borivoje Stevanović, Vasilij Rudonovski, Ljubomir Werner stand out among them… Since a part of the painting collection was lost in the bombardment of the Museum in 1944, its restoration started immediately after the liberation and already, in 1951, the collection was enlarged with the collection of important Serbian authors from the first half 19th and early 20th century. The orientation towards the works of authors from the entire former Yugoslavian area has manifested itself especially since 1964, when the Art Colony in Sićevo was renewed, when the works created within the colony began to fill the museum collections. A special place in this collection is occupied by the collection of contemporary artists from Niš.
Today the Art History Collection has 1058 objects (paintings, sculptures, drawings, graphics).