[2] The collection consists of almost 800 works by 250 international artists including: Francis Bacon, Giacomo Balla, Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Émile Bernard, Bernard Buffet, Alice Lok Cahana, Marc Chagall, Eduardo Chillida, Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dalí, Maurice Denis, Otto Dix, Paul Gauguin, Renato Guttuso, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Alfred Manessier, Giacomo Manzù, Giorgio Morandi, Pablo Picasso, Odilon Redon, Auguste Rodin, Georges Rouault, Maurice Utrillo, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri Matisse.

[6] Francis Bacon created a piece detailing Pope Innocent X. Auguste Rodin's aquatints and a Hand of God cast are also displayed in the Vatican.

His distinctly religious works are a bronze crucifix called Crocifisso, a relief sculpture titled Crocifissione, and a bust of a juggler, Giocoliere.

The prehistory of the Collection of Modern Religious Art begun with the homily of Pope Paul VI during his encounter with artists in the Sistine Chapel on May 7, 1964.

On April 23, 1999, Pope John Paul II introduced a new area to the Collection, which continues to expand in space and scope.