Art gallery, founded as the first branch of the Saratov Radishchev Museum, opened in June 1977 in the city of Balakovo. One-story brick building with a total area of about four hundred square meters, which houses the gallery was built at the turn of 19-20 centuries for Commerce Bank.

The main Museum is a comprehensive exposition "Russian art 18 - the beginnings of 20 centuries" from the collection of the Radishchev Museum. In the exhibition halls of the gallery are the works of famous Russian artists: portrait of K. Makovsky, F. Zhuravlev, N. P.Bogdanov-Belsky, landscape painters N. Dubovsky, L. Lagorio, Kamenev and genre of song N. Pryanishnikov, N. Sverchkov are seen and F. Bronnikov. In may 2005, the exposition was supplemented with creations of decorative art.

After the restoration of the building in September 2009, the art gallery was equipped with a modern alarm system and special lighting with a sparing mode graphics for halls and in the locations of old paintings.

The first hall is dedicated to the Imperial Romanov dynasty, it exhibits sculptural busts, and antique books. Through the lobby is a hall of Orthodox and ancient art with icons of the 18th-19th centuries, copper-molded plastic and small icons format. The next room shows paintings and decorative arts. In addition to the main hall of the painting presents armchairs and chairs 19th century bronze candlesticks, large decorative vases and two showcases of Russian porcelain of the 19th century. A separate room is allotted for the work of A. P. Bogolyubov and archival documents with photographs depicting the creation of the first Russian public Museum in Saratov.