The Contemporary Art and Photography department has existed since 2004. Up until 2014, the collection had received 235 works, the earliest of which dates from 1983: “Transplantation – The Glass Quay“ by Vasil Simitchiev, and the latest are from the ongoing programmes for young artists at the Vaska Emanouilova Gallery.
It aims to make the collection show the newest history of art in Bulgaria through significant artists and works. Some works were created on the occasion of basic, from the viewpoint of history, exhibitions such as “The City?“, 1988; "11.11.88", 1988; “N-forms”, 1994; “Ars Ex Natio. Made in Bulgaria”, 1997. The ambition of the collection is not only to cover historical periods and certain names, but also to reveal tendencies and common concerns. It contains a number of works dedicated to Sofia city and presented to the public in exhibitions on the same subject, such as “(Urban) Infernal Legends“ (2006) and “From Yesterday To Tomorrow. Monuments of Sofia“ (2009).
The collection includes paintings, drawings, videos, installations, digital art, objects, sculptures, etc. In 2013 the „Bulgarian Photography Today“ project was launched, due to which the gallery receives works of actively working contemporary photographs in the form of donations.
The works come in the Contemporary Art and Photography department through preemptive purchases and donations. Among the most significant donors are artists such as Boryana Rossa, Pravdolyub Ivanov, Lachezar Boyadzhiev, Sasho Stoitsov, Milko Pavlov, Nina Kovacheva and Valentin Stefanov, Nadezhda Oleg Lyahova, and Nedko Solakov. In 2014 the collection was supplemented with a large donation from the private collection of Gaudenz B. Ruf.
In 2014, the Contemporary Art and Photography department became also the owner of works by Christo and Jean-Claude.
The catalogue of the collection was published in 2011.