The modern collection concentrates more on painting than sculpture, although there are three-dimensional pieces, including a work by Barbara Hepworth (displayed in the Oval outside Abbot Hall), Jena Arp and Elisabeth Frink.

Abbot Hall also has a significant group of Lake District works by the German refugee artist Kurt Schwitters, and still life paintings by Winifred Nicholson and the Scottish Colourist, S J Peploe.

Modern landscape paintings and works on paper by Gillies, Piper, Sutherland, Hitchens and Lowry, amongst others, reflect and build on the landscape theme of the 18th and 19th century watercolour collections. The gallery also has a strong collection of 20th century figure paintings and portraits with significant works by Stanley Spencer, Victor Pasmore and David Bomberg.

In recent years Abbot Hall has been active in adding contemporary British works to its collection, including Frank Auerbach, Paula Rego, Tony Bevan, and Celia Paul. There is also a growing collection of artist’s prints, including etchings by David Hockney, Paula Rego and Lucian Freud, lithographs by Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Henry Moore and aquatints by Sean Scully.