The collection of Polish paintings was created in Opole from the scratch. The underlying motif for its initiation, which began in the 1950s, was the need to supplement the museum collections with works emphasizing the Polishness of the Recovered Territories. By effectuating subsequent acquisitions, over time a gallery was created, presenting the works of, among others, Józef Chełmoński, Olga Boznańska, Jacek Malczewski, Leon Wyczółkowski and many other outstanding Polish painters.

Massive population displacements, resulting from military operations and international agreements, affected the area of todays Opolskie Province (voivodeship). Due to the intensive expatriation movement (mainly within the time span of 1945‒1947), in the area of todays Opole province there appeared an influx of new populations, mostly coming from the lost eastern lands of the pre-war Poland (often described as Kresy Wschodnie - the Eastern Borderlands [‘Kresy’ henceforth]), but also from various locations of the within the present Polish state.