Considering the amount of works it is a modest collection, but contains number of extraordinary works of Polish painters, especially from the 19th century and turn of the 19th and 20th century. Among them there are a few works recognized as masterpieces of Polish painting, i.e. Portrait of the Artist’s Mother by Henryk Rodakowski, Napoleon on Horseback by Piotr Michałowski, Sleeping Mietek by Stanisław Wyspiański, and also of the earliest historical paintings by Jan Matejko Jan III Sobieski in Częstochowa.
The collection makes up a representative review of Polish painting from the Sarmatian epoch (Sarmatian portrait from the 17th-18th century, inter alia of Józef Faworski) and Stanisław August Poniatowski’s epoch (works by Marcell Bacciarelli, Jan Piotr Norblin), through the main trends of the 19th century art (among others paintings by Wojciech Gerson, Witold Pruszkowski, Józef Chełmoński, Aleksander Gierymski, Leon Wyczółkowski) and ending with the epoch of the Young Poland (among others paintings by Olga Boznańska, Stanisław Wyspiański, Józef Mehoffer, Jacek Malczewski as well as sculpture by Ksawery Dunikowski).
Valuable part of the collection are the paintings of Polish inhabitants of Munich, among others Maksymilian Gierymski, Józef Brandt, Alfred Wierusza-Kowalski and Jan Rosen.
The collection contains also works of creators from the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century, who were associated with the formation of artistic environment of the heavy-industrial Łódź, including Jewish artists (i.e. paintings by Leon and Samuel Hirszenberg, Maurycy Trębacz, Leopold Pilichowski, sculptures by Henryk Glicenstein). In this group, the valuable acquisition is a painting by Witold Wołczaski – today a little known painter – who lead one of the first in Łódź artistic schools.
Permanent exposition of Polish painting from the 19th century will be accessible for viewers in the new gallery of the museum’s branch – Herbst Residence; its opening is planned for 2009. Currently, one can see selected works in the Herbst Residence, among others works by Aleksander Orłowski, Piotr Michałowski, Henryk Rodakowski, Juliusz Kossak, Artur Grottger, Jan Rosen, Leon Wyczółkowski, Franciszek Żmurko and Olga Boznańska.
Origin of the collection was created in 1930-39. A collection of Kazimierz Bartoszewicz’s family, a Cracovian historian and publicist, which was donated to the city in 1928-30, became its foundation. Among others there were donated works by such artists as: Jan Piotr Norblin, Artur Grottger, Aleksander Kotsis, Witold Pruszkowski, Józef Chełmoński, Jacek Malczewski and Vlastimil Hofman. Core of the original collection was completed by small amount of works from the prior Public Museum and Public Art Gallery – from the collection of the Commune of Łódź City; from the purchases made by Commune, among others works by Michał Elwiro Andriolle, Kazimierz Sichulski, Aleksander Lesser, Juliusz Kossak, Maurycy Trębacz and Natan Spiegiel.
A valuable completion of the collection of Polish painting from before the war period was a donation of an industrialist from Łódź, Karol Eiser, thanks to whom paintings Alchemist Sędziwój and King Zygmunt III Waza by Jan Matejko, Intermezzo by Jacek Malczewski and Wounded Cuirassier with a Girl by Wojciech Kossak were gained. To the donators belong also other industrialists from Łódź, like Stanisław Silberstein, Jakub Brat-Kon or Henryk Grohman’s inheritors.
Collection of newly founded museum was enlarged also by purchases of works. To the more valuable works that were acquired in this way before the war were two portraits by Olga Boznańska, famous Portrait of the Artist’s Mother by Henryk Rodakowski and Self-portrait by Piotr Michałowski.
During the after war period, the collection was continuously completed through the purchases and donations, as well as numerous transfers. Today it contains over 700 works, including about 450 oil paintings (see list of the artists). To the larger groups of works belong drawings by Jan Piotr Norblin (84 works) and paintings by Marian Wawrzyniec (28 oil works and gouaches).