The art gallery has 74 pieces, including 58 original art works by the artist. These artworks still charm the visitors with their vivid representation of life.

The museum also has a rare collection of 69 mementos used by the artist, kept in a big glass box at the center of the gallery. These include brushes, pelican ink pot, spatula, scraper, a large portrait-holder made of leather, linseed oil, reed pen, spectacles and easel, said Dulal Chandra Gain, assistant keeper of the art gallery.

Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin was a student of the local Mrittunjai School when his devotion to painting surfaced. He would often sit on the large shoals of Brahmaputra river and draw. It was during this time that his teachers encouraged him to go to Kolkata to study art.

Zainul, who was often homesick, later established the Shangra-hashala in his hometown for the future generation.

The Sangrahashala was inaugurated on April 15, 1975 by the then vice-president of People's Republic of Bangladesh Shaheed Syed Nazrul Islam on the bank of the Bramaputra, a place adorned by sprouting greenery.

At the beginning, the museum was run by a committee with the assistance of local administration and the elites as per agreement with the Shilpacharya, the founder of the museum.

Later in 1999, considering the importance of the museum, the National Museum took charge from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and started development works to make the art museum a special attraction to artistes as well as art enthusiasts.

Though the museum started with a display of 77 paintings, on May 2, 1992, 17 art works were stolen. Among these 10 were seized from Dhaka the same year. Besides the 58 original paintings, 16 replicas of the artist's works are also on display.

Some of the paintings on display at the gallery are Famine, Waiting at the Ferry Ghat, A Malnourished Child in the Lap of his Mother, A Village Woman with a Pitcher on her Waist, Kazi Nazrul Islam, A Woman just after a Bath, A Mexican Woman, Monpura '70, a painting on the devastating tidal wave in Bhola in 1970 and Life and Struggle.

The renovation works of the museum began in 1997 and were completed by June 2004.

Every year a five-day-long festival is organised by the gallery authority from December 25 to 29 to celebrate Zainul Abedin's birth anniversary. The programmes include a colourful procession, painting competitions for the children, Zainul fair, discussions on life and works of Zainul and traditional cultural shows featuring Baul songs.