In the absence of aristocratic grand houses with large landed estates – neither the Nunnery nor the Castle Mona would be classified as such – the Island has lacked significant private collections of art. Furthermore, it was not until the 1930s that the art collection of the Manx Museum came into being. Both these factors contribute to a seemingly sparse Manx national artistic patrimony. However, the Manx Museum has gradually built up an interesting collection of works, many of which have been gifts or bequests. This has preserved and conferred status on deserving works which might otherwise have been dispersed, destroyed or ignored, ‘regional’ art for some time not being considered fashionable.

It is evident from surviving works that the beauty of the Manx countryside, its coastline and harbours has been a continual source of inspiration to artists. These were the subject matter of 26 watercolours by John Warwick Smith, now in the Museum's ownership, and described by Alan E. Kelly as ‘the most important collection of eighteenth-century paintings depicting the Island’. Early in the nineteenth century Jacob Strutt RA and John Martin RA both worked in the Isle of Man. One of the latter's awesome landscapes, entitled The Plains of Heaven (in the Tate Britain, London), was said to incorporate a Manx landscape. Flaxney Stowell and John Miller Nicholson, two self-taught Manx artists, both born in the 1840s into family-run painting and decorating businesses, enjoyed considerable success. John Miller Nicholson (1840–1913), encouraged by Governor Loch's wife and Ruskin, made a trip to Italy, and some of his consequent work was acclaimed by art critics when exhibited in England. On his death a large collection of his works was purchased by a charitable trust and eventually became the nucleus of the Manx Museum Art Gallery. Nicholson and Lady Loch inaugurated the first art exhibition in Douglas in 1880. The interest this created led to the establishment there of an art school.

The rise of the tourist industry provided a new demand for art depicting the Island's romantic scenery to adorn the interior of boarding-houses, hotels and public houses. These were supplied by both Manx and non-Manx artists.