 Beginning in 1959, when the gallery was named after the Czech painter, graphic artist, and illustrator Václav Špála, the exhibition programme was gradually influenced by writers on art such as Eva Petrová, Jiří Šetlík, Ludmila Vachtová, and František Dvořák.Beginning with an exhibition of works by Zbyněk Sekal in 1965, the gallery flourished under the management of the respected writer on art Jindřich Chalupecký.Under his direction, a whole generation of Czech modern artists showed their works one after another in the gallery, but, in 1969, it also held the only Prague exhibition of works by Marcel Duchamp.