The Arts Council Collection was formed in 1946 when the newly founded Arts Council of Great Britain took over a small group of paintings for tour from CEMA, the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts. The Arts Council began to extend its collection through the acquisition of paintings, drawings, sculpture and prints. From the outset, the intention was to support artists living and working in Britain through the purchases and display of their work, and to tour exhibitions across the country thereby encouraging public appreciation of modern and contemporary art.

Until 1987, the Arts Council of Great Britian managed the Arts Council Collection along with Hayward Gallery in London. Following the demise of the Greater London Council, the Arts Council Collection and Hayward Gallery came under the remit of the recently formed Southbank Centre, London.