The building was erected during the big northern expansion of Tübingen in the 1960s and early 1970s, when the Wanne district (a.o.)

His main theme was the leading role of the 19th century and early 20th-century French art for international modernity.

Adriani managed to organize the first exhibitions in Germany of the works many of the French painters of the period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries at the Kunsthalle Tübingen.

As for contemporary art, he was helpful in promoting the careers of artists such as George Segal (1972), Richard Hamilton (1974), and Claes Oldenburg (1975).

Since 2003, the museum is financed by a charitable non-profit foundation (before, it had been an institution of the city of Tübingen), consisting of private donations and the money of the Zundel family.