Art Gallery, located in Taganrog, Alexander Street, was founded in 1898. The idea of ​​creating this museum belonged to the writer Anton Chekhov. It was he who first suggested that the Taganrog needs a museum, which would be collected antiques and works of art. At the request of the writer and the promotion of Ilya Repin Academy of Arts Council in 1902 he gave the city the museum eight pictures painted by Russian artists.

In 1930 the museum was renamed the National History. That same year, the institution was given a new room. In 1968, the art collection of local history museum emerged as an independent museum called Taganrog Picture Gallery. In 1976, the gallery launched in a beautiful mansion exposure AZ Handrina is an architectural monument. The mansion was built in 1870. The author of the project was the architect Tenishev. Handrinu house owned since 1898 and up to the revolutionary times.

In 2003 the art gallery was renamed the Taganrog Museum of Art. In 2005 the museum was donated by the family V. Ilyahinskogo more than 30 works of the American artist, who was born in Taganrog. In 2011, the city administration decided to allocate part of the Art Museum building, formerly owned by one of the offices of the South-Western Bank of Sberbank of Russia.

To date, the funds of the Taganrog Art Museum are about 7 thousand. Pieces of painting, sculpture, graphics, icons, and arts and crafts. Among this collection are the most valuable paintings by Russian artists XVIII-XX Art.