The Municipal Art Gallery of Chios was created on the basis of private donations, which formed its first collections. According to the Draft Regulations of the MAGC, the initial core consists of the collections of Yannis Mitarakis (Jean Mitta), the collection of Nikolaos and Marianna Diomataris, and the collection of works by contemporary and foreign artists, whose works were donated in the context of exhibitions or contacts between the artists and the Municipality of Chios. Very early on, the donation of Erissos Melekou was added, which was organized in the Melekou-Chrysanthopoulos Collections section.

In 2003, following the retrospective exhibition of the late Nikos Gialouris at the Georgios Kaloutas Center in October 2002, the well-known engraver and painter donated his entire body of work, his archive, and the objects found in his workshop to the Municipality of Chios with the aim of creating a “Gialouris Museum,” which operated for a few years in another space than the Municipal Art Gallery. After many adventures, the entire Gialouris Donation was incorporated into and now forms the main body of the Municipal Art Gallery of Chios.

The Gallery’s collections now include the Frixos Aristeas Collection, with works from the Chios Villages cycle, and the Contemporary Chios Artists Collection, with works by Kyriakos Veniadis and Giorgos Zymarakis.

As envisaged when the Gallery was founded, the institution includes a small Sculpture Collection and plans to develop collections of photography and new art forms.

Today, the Gallery includes the following collections.