The processes that culminated in the independence of the former European colonies affected disciplines that, directly or indirectly, legitimized colonial power. The New Museology movement provoked actions that brought the museum closer to the community, making it possible to include groups related to the safeguarded collections within the institutions.

Since the Collection inherited a relatively random set of works and only recently implemented an acquisition policy, one cannot comfortably attribute to it the function of producing a historiography of art produced in the 20th century in Pernambuco. How, then, to deal with this condition?