It was in the context of the Portuguese World Exhibition of 1940 that the architects Veloso Reis Camelo and João Simões designed the pavilion for the ‘Popular Life Section’. After the exhibition closed it was decided that the building should be preserved with the aim of turning it into a Popular Art museum, in line with the propaganda of the Estado Novo (New State). In 1942 the authors of the pavilion executed the first project of adaptation, which was subsequently reformulated by the architect Jorge Segurado. Inaugurated in July 1948 under the name of Museum of the Portuguese People, the new space was divided internally into sections each corresponding to a different region of the country. The parietal decorations were in charge of the painters/decorators Manuel Lapa, Paulo Ferreira, Estrela de Faria, Carlos Botelho and TOM, who after a certain point also took on the management of the installation of the collection.

Since the 1970s, the Museum has undergone a period of uncertainty regarding its own identity, which hasn’t yet been completely overcome. It currently houses temporary exhibitions.