The first exhibit of the Department was the painting "Polonia" by Antoni Piotrowski (1853-1924). Originally, it had been housed by the former public PTTK Museum in Konin; after its liquidation, the painting was handed over to our museum. The painting is related to Konin because in the period between the two world wars it was housed in the Konin Town Hall. Between 1970 and 1995 paintings of famous painters of the 19th and 20th centuries were bought, including those by Jan Rustem (1762-1835), Aleksander Orłowski (1777-1852), Wojciech Gerson (1831-1901), Józef Szermentowski (1833-1876), Aleksander Kotsis (1836-1877), Jan Matejko (1838-1893), Leon Wyczółkowski (1852-1936), Jacek Malczewski (1854-1929), Olga Boznańska (1865-1940), Józef Mehoffer (1868-1946), Vlastimil Hofman (1881-1970), Tymon Niesiołowski (1881-1965), Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (1885-1939).
In 1991 the museum bought a portfolio of drawings by Maksymilian Oborski (1809-1878), painted after his exile. The author - an incredible person, though unfortunately almost forgotten - participated in the November Uprising and was involved in the revolutionary movement of 1846-48. Sentenced to hard labor for his participation in the January Uprising, between 1863-74 he remained in exile near Irkutsk. An amateur graphic artist, he created influenced by his friend Piotr Michałkowski.
Polish art created after 1945 is represented by works of the following artists: Tadeusz Łapiński, Maria Jarema, Piotr Potworowski, Tadeusz Trepkowski, Józef Szajna, Wacław Taranczewski, Jan Berdyszak, Jarosław Kozłowski, Andrzej Pepłoński, Hanna Łuczak, Tomasz Wilmański.
Between 1976-1989, thanks to the joint effort by Socio-Cultural Association and Artistic Exhibition Agency, "Aluminium" (sculpture) plein-air workshop in Konin took place. The Aluminium Smelter Plant provided material and access to workshops to artists. The plein-air workshops were attended by known Polish and foreign sculptors. A trace of the plein-air workshops in the shape of several works including those by Józef Kaliszan, Janina Chruścielska, Anna Rodzińska, and Giotto Dimitro was left behind in the Museum.
The collections of the department were significantly enriched thanks to gifts. Hugo Dreyfuss, a son-in-law of the excellent sculptor Henryk Henoch Glicenstein, handed to the Museum drawings, watercolors, and a bas relief by the artist. Rich evidence concerning the sculptor was provided by the curator of Dreyfuss-Glicenstein Foundation, Charlotte Snyder Sholod. It was the beginning of the only permanent exhibition devoted to the artist.
As a gift from the known historian Józef Lewandowski, we received the artistic legacy of his wife, an incredibly interesting artist - Teresa Lewandowska. The legacy includes monotypes, drawings, and poems.
From Wiesława Kwiatkowska, who creates incredible painting cycles inspired by poetry, we received dozens of paintings created under the influence of Maria Pawlikowska Jasnorzewska.
A permanent trace of the Museum's contacts with the Department of Fine Arts of Maryland University in the USA are works by the department's professors: Claudia de Monte, Stephanie E. Pouge, Fabio Fabiano, Patric M. Craig, John Mc Carty, James Thorpe, Foon Sham, and Jimmi Forbes.