The gallery programme began in 1984 in a Victorian terraced house in London’s East End. Initially named Interim Art, the gallery changed its name to Maureen Paley in 2004 as a celebration of its 20th anniversary. Since September 1999 the gallery has been situated in industrial spaces in Bethnal Green. In July 2017 Maureen Paley opened a second space Morena di Luna in Hove. In October 2020 a third space, Studio M was opened in the Rochelle School in Shoreditch. From its inception, the gallery’s aim has remained consistent: to promote great and innovative artists in all media.

Maureen Paley was one of the first to present contemporary art in London’s East End and has been a pioneer of the current scene, promoting and showing a diverse range of international artists. Gallery artists include Turner Prize winners Gillian Wearing, 1997; Wolfgang Tillmans, 2000 and Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 2019, as well as Turner Prize nominees Hannah Collins, 1993; Jane and Louise Wilson, 1999; Liam Gillick, 2002; Rebecca Warren, 2006; and Rory Pilgrim, 2023. Represented artists also include Felipe Baeza, Alexandra Bircken, AA Bronson, Tom Burr, Fiona Connor, Chioma Ebinama, Michaela Eichwald, General Idea, Anne Hardy, Peter Hujar, Merlin James, Behrang Karimi, Michael Krebber, Alastair Mackinven, Paulo Nimer Pjota, Seb Patane, Olivia Plender, Maaike Schoorel, Hannah Starkey, Oscar Tuazon, and James Welling.

Maureen Paley, the gallery’s founder and director, was born in New York, studied at Sarah Lawrence College, and graduated from Brown University before coming to the UK in 1977 where she completed her Masters at The Royal College of Art from 1978–80.

Together with running the gallery, Maureen Paley has also curated a number of large-scale public exhibitions. In 1994 she organised an exhibition of works by Felix Gonzales Torres, Joseph Kosuth and Ad Reinhardt at the Camden Arts Centre. In 1995 Wall to Wall was presented for the Arts Council GB National Touring Exhibitions and appeared at the Serpentine Gallery, London, Southampton City Art Gallery and Leeds City Art Gallery showing wall drawings by international artists including Daniel Buren, Michael Craig-Martin, Douglas Gordon, Barbara Kruger, Sol Lewitt, and Lawrence Weiner.