The Fine Art Collection was started in the 1880s, shortly after the opening of the Art Gallery and has been added to continuously since then. It numbers nearly two thousand works including 250 oil paintings, 750 drawings and watercolours, 450 old engravings and 350 modern original prints.
The main strengths are Victorian oil paintings, 19th and 20th century British watercolours, modern prints, and the collection of paintings, watercolours and prints of local and topographical interest.
There are several outstanding pictures in the collection, for example a view of Dudley Castle by J.M.W.Turner and significant holdings of work by David Cox, Frank Brangwyn and Percy Shakespeare.