The museum was founded in 1931, and has a permanent exhibition of paintings and sculptures that includes works by major Croatian artists such as Vlaho Bukovac, Mato Celestin Medović, Branislav Dešković, Ivan Meštrović, Emanuel Vidović and Ignjat Job.

The Dalmatian governor, Nicholas Nardelli, bought several pieces from the show to form the basis of a new art gallery, giving them into the care of Kamilo Tončić, the director of the School of Crafts.

Originally housed in a building in Lovretska Street, the museum's first director was Kamilo Tončić, the curator was Angjeo Uvodić, and restorer Cata Dujšin.

During the period 1950–1979, under the direction of Kruno Prijatelj, the gallery started running art education programs, published numerous publications, and began organizing exhibitions by contemporary artists.

The collection contains paintings by Vlaho Bukovac, Emanuel Vidović, Mato Celestin Medović, Ignjat Job, Juraj Plančić and Marino Tartaglia.

Best known are the works of Ivo Dulčić, Ljubo Ivančić, Slavko Kopač, Ferdinand Kulmer, Branko Ružić, Ivan Kožarić, and Đuro Seder.

Constructivist and geometric trends in Croatian art are represented by members of the groups EXAT-51, and New Tendencies, such as Ivan Picelj, Julije Knifer and Juraj Dobrović.

From the 1980s, there are works by Damir Sokić and Nino Ivančić, and a group that once formed the artistic core of Split: Kuzma Kovačić, Vasko Lipovac, Kažimir Hraste and Gorky Žuvela.