The museum at the Wilanów palace is the oldest Polish museum of art. It was established in 1805, on the initiative of the then-current owners of the palace, Aleksandra Potocka and Stanisław Kostka Potocki. Subsequent owners, members of the Potocki and Branicki families, maintained continuous public access to art collections at Wilanów. In 1877, the museum was popularised with the publication of Wilanów. Album widoków i pamiątek (Wilanów: An Album of Vistas and Remembrances), a book by Hipolit Skimbrowicz and Wojciech Gerson. The year 1893, on the other hand, saw the publication of a guide to the palace at Wilanów and its art collection.

After World War II, due to the agrarian reform, the Wilanów property was claimed by the state. From the late 1940’s until the mid-1950’s, collections previously taken to Germany, Austria and the Soviet Union were retrieved. In 1954, widespread revitalising works began in the palace and in the park. It was decided that all alterations should relate to the aesthetics of the times of Jan III and Baroque decorations, wherever possible. The grand opening of the Wilanów palace – as a division of the National Museum in Warsaw – took place on September 10th, 1962; two days later, on the anniversary of the Battle of Vienna, the Palace was opened for the public. In the 1970’s, the number of visitors to the palace and gardens at Wilanów reached 400,000 a year. In 1983, to mark the 300th anniversary of the Battle of Vienna, the museum organised a jubilee exhibition, “Glory and Fame of Jan III in Art and Literature.”