The Municipal Gallery of Corfu has been in operation since 1978 in a building which is a legasy of the Dalietos family.

When the gallery became a leggaly-recognized public institution in 1991, an effort was made to make its collection, mainly constituted by donated works, more widely known. Among the most important collections are those of the Samartzis collection (42 works), the Aglaia Papa (23 works) and Philippos Makotsis (12 works) collections; while there are also two works donated by Nikolaos Ventouras.

The greater part of the collection of the Municipal Gallery of Corfu consists of works by 19th-century Corfiot painters (Haralambos Pachis, Pavlos Prossalendis the younger, Angelos Giallinas, Vicentios Boccaciampis, S. Skarvelis, Lyk. Koyevinas, G. Samartxis); this is the period which produces some of the most representative painters of the Ionian islands.

Among the best-known of the Gallery's exhibits are: "The assassination of Capodistria" by Haralambos Pachis, "Markas" and "The Herd" by Angelos Giallinas, the "Sphinx" by Sp. Skarvelis, the "Fighter of the 1821 War" by Sp. Prossalendis, the "Arab Musician" by P. Prossalendis, the "Piano tuner" by G. Samartzis, works in which the main trends of 19th-century Greek art are connected. The tendencies prevailing in the works of the Corfiot painters 19th century are related to the academic style, but also show the influences exerted on the artists by Italian painting. Towards the end of the century, the artists' turn towards Impressionistic current sets the tone.