The museum is located in the former Pola Asylum, designed at the beginning of the 20th century by Luis Bellido and built under the supervision of Miguel García de la Cruz. It is devoted almost exclusively to the work of this artist from Gijón/Xixón who died in 1978, at the age of a hundred. The generous donation from the painter's widow, Enriqueta Ceñal Costales, and interest on the part of the institutions, facilitated the creation of this museum which preserves a large collection of more than six thousand drawings.
The founding collection was subsequently enriched by the works in repository from the Jovellanos Birthplace Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias. The exhibition is structured following chronological and thematic criteria and, in addition to the drawings, includes some of the most representative paintings from the different stages of his career as an artist. The location of the museum, in what is now the Plaza de Europa, situates the artist's work in the same urban context in which he spent practically his entire life.