Founded in 1975, this was the first organised visual art institution in the city, its purpose being to promote and disseminate modern Greek art, mainly that of northern Greece. It occupies the top floor of the building which also houses the State Theatre of Northern Greece. The building was designed by the architect Vassilis Kassandras and stands directly opposite the White Tower on the sea-front.

The collection comprises more than 400 works, mainly paintings, sculptures, and engravings, mostly by artists from Thessaloniki and Macedonia in general, though there are also works by major artists from the rest of Greece and other countries too. Works by foreign artists are selected by virtue of their connection with the city, i.e. they depict monuments or landscapes of Thessaloniki. Most of the artworks have been donated, a few purchased, and at one time quite a number of works were bequeathed to the gallery. Early in 1999, it was augmented by works from the Papanakos Collection.

There is space to display only 150 works, yet the exhibition presents an entirely satisfactory picture of the basic orientations of visual expression in nothern Greece, as also of the development of modern Greek art since 1850. A sample of the artists includes Tassos Kyriazopoulos, Spyros Vassiliou, Thalia Flora Karavia, Nikos Sahinis, Émile Gerlach, Yorgos Apotsos, Kostas Karanos, Anna Hristoforidou, Kyriakos Cabadakis, and Apostolos Kilessopoulos.

The gallery extends its interest to organising solo and group temporary exhibitions to promote contemporary art.