[2] The gallery holds exhibitions particularly of works by living Czech professional artists of the middle generation who are among the best painters, photographers, and sculptors on the art scene today.

Beginning in 1959, when the gallery was named after the Czech painter, graphic artist, and illustrator Václav Špála, the exhibition programme was gradually influenced by writers on art such as Eva Petrová, Jiří Šetlík, Ludmila Vachtová, and František Dvořák.

Beginning with an exhibition of works by Zbyněk Sekal in 1965, the gallery flourished under the management of the respected writer on art Jindřich Chalupecký.

Since the Velvet Revolution of late 1989, the Václav Špála Gallery has again been holding exhibitions curated by respected scholars of art, including Mahulena Nešlehová, Jiří Valoch, Marie Klimešová, Eva Petrová, Josef Kroutvor, Jan Kříž, and Ivo Janoušek, showing works of art by young new artists as well as artists of the 1960s and 1970s generations.

[5] In honour of the golden era of the Václav Špála Gallery, a Jindřich Chalupecký Prize (Cena Jindřicha Chalupeckého) for Czech fine artists aged 35 years or younger was established in 1990.

In the 1990s, under the direction of Jaroslav Krbůšek, the Václav Špála Gallery became generally known as a forward-looking exhibition space for contemporary Czech art.