Hastings Museum and Art Gallery has very rich and varied collections, including fine and decorative arts, local and natural history, and world art, with significant Native American collections. Hastings Museum and Art Gallery holds an important regional collection of paintings. From its foundation in 1892 a number of themes was established, including strong watercolour holdings, close links with the Hastings Art School, and a preference for artists with local connections. The earliest oils to be collected were by William Henry Borrow, an artist of maritime subjects. In 1948, the Museum started a collection of works by Sickert and his pupils, beginning with Sylvia Gosse and followed by Sickert's portrait of Signor de Rossi. Holdings were augmented in the 1950s by a bequest from Violet Vicat Cole. Since the 1980s, the Museum has acquired works by contemporary Hastings artists including Laetitia Yhap, Bill Day and John Bratby. Historic works have also been acquired with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund, the most recent being an important local watercolour by J. M. W. Turner.