The exhibition, opened in 2002, surveys the most important trends in the fine arts in Hungary from the generation that founded the Nagybánya artists' colony in the 1890s (Simon Hollósy, Károly Ferenczy) to the mid-1940s. In line with a new method of arrangement, works are not displayed in strict chronological order; each room is an independent unit in its own right.

The work of the most important artists (József Rippl-Rónai, Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka, Ferenc Medgyessy, Róbert Berény, Gyula Derkovits) and groups of artists (the Eight, the Activists, the Rome School, the Gresham Circle) is presented by a continually altering selection of paintings.

Late Renaissance and Baroque Art: The permanent exhibition of Late Renaissance and Baroque art (1550-1800) surveys the art of 250 years, beginning with Mannerist works made in Vienna and Prague in the years around 1600. The 17th century is represented by Hungarian ecclesiastical treasures, wooden epitaphs and tomb sculptures, as well as by depictions of Árpád-dynasty saints in Hungarian attire. Next, the show evokes the culture of aristocratic residences in the Baroque age by means of a painted travelling tapestry once belonging to Ferenc Rákóczi II, prince of Transylvania.

Early 18th-century art is represented by works of Bohemian, Silesian and German masters, and by those of their Hungarian counterparts who achieved fame abroad. Besides monumental works, altarpieces and fresco sketches help recall the one-time completeness of Baroque ecclesiastical art. Most of these works present scenes from the legends of Hungarian royal saints.

The collection contains fragments of sculptures, carved architectural elements of artistic value, and fragments of tombstones from the period stretching from the 11th to the 16th century.

The ground-floor exhibition of wooden sculptures and panel paintings from the Late Middle Ages continues on the first floor, in the former throne room of the palace, and in two connecting rooms. Here a total of fifteen mostly complete winged altarpieces are on display, along with numerous altarpiece fragments. The majority of the works of art on show here are from the early 16th century. In terms of the number of complete altarpieces and their artistic quality, this assemblage is one of the most important of its kind in Europe.