In 1995 Francisco Fernández del Riego (b. Vilanova de Lourenzá, 1913) donated his entire art, library and documentary collection to the City of Vigo, where he had lived and worked for many years dedicated to the city.

The collection is composed of more than 20,000 items, as well as Del Riego’s personal correspondence maintained over the years with important artistic and intellectual figures of Galician society during the years between the wars.

The art collection is the highlight of the museum and is highly representative of Galician art from the end of the 19th century. It includes 254 works, 79 of which are paintings by artists like Maside, Castelao, Minguillón, Díaz Pardo, Torres, Colmeiro, Ruibal and Granell.

Works of sculpture by Failde Gago and Elena Colmeiro are also present, and photographs and personal items that show Francisco Fernández del Riego to be a man of culture, an intellectual and "galleguista" and lover of the arts.

In chronological order, the first collection is by Ovidio Murguía, son of Murguía and the poetess Rosalía de Castro. Among the more recent collections there are works by artists from the 1990s such as Din Matamoro.