The gallery is the home to the distinguished Garman Ryan Collection, donated to the Borough in by Lady Kathleen Epstein (nee Garman) in 1972. It consists of 365 works of art with many three dimensional works. Two remarkable women created this collection: Kathleen Garman, lover and later wife of artist Jacob Epstein, and her life-long friend Sally Ryan, a talented sculptor.

Together, they formed an art collection that is intimate, adventurous and eclectic, reflecting their wide ranging tastes from many different cultures from around the world. 

The Garman Ryan Collection is on permanent display on Floors 1, 2 and in the Disco - The Family Gallery. It is a closed collection which means no works will be added to it, collection highlights include a wide-ranging body of work by Sir Jacob Epstein and many significant works by European artists including Van Gogh, Monet, Turner, Corot, Renoir and Constable represented in prints, sketches, drawings, paintings and sculptures. 

The galleries chart the long, productive and often controversial career of Jacob Epstein, and serve as a memorial to the Epstein’s extraordinary circle of family and friends that included artists Augustus John, Modigliani, Gaudier-Brzeska and Epstein’s one-time son-in-law, Lucian Freud.

The Garman Ryan Collection galleries also presents a changing programme of temporary exhibitions with a changing programme of historic exhibitions that relate to the collection.