Unlike the university's other collections, the Hatton Gallery was not transferred into the Hancock, but remained in the Fine Art Building.

[4] The Hatton Gallery closed on 27 February 2016 for a £3.8 million redevelopment and reopened in October 2017 with the exhibition Pioneers of Pop.

[5][6] The permanent collection comprises over 3,500 works, from the 14th century onward – including paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings[7] – and starring the Merzbarn, the only surviving Merz construction by Kurt Schwitters, which was rescued from a barn near Elterwater in 1965[8] and is now permanently installed in the gallery.

[9] Other important artists represented in the collection include Francis Bacon, Victor Pasmore, William Roberts and Paolo di Giovanni, Palma Giovane, Richard Hamilton, Panayiotis Kalorkoti, Thomas Bewick, Eduardo Paolozzi, Camillo Procaccini, Patrick Heron and Richard Ansdell.

[10] Important exhibitions held in the gallery in recent years include No Socks: Kurt Schwitters and the Merzbarn (1999)[11] and William Roberts (2004).