Art gallery located in Joubert Park district, a few blocks from the main train station in Johannesburg. The building was designed by the British architect sir Edwin Lutyens and consists of 15 exhibition halls and several exhibition areas under the open sky for large sculptures. In his archives is a collection of British and Dutch painting of the XVIII-XIX centuries, the collection of European painting of the nineteenth century, as well as a large collection of contemporary South African and international artists.

Collector Dorothea Sarah Florence Alexandra Phillips, wife of mining magnate Lionel Phillips, formed the first collection of the gallery with funds made by her husband. After moving to Johannesburg, she began to acquire paintings for the purpose of creating an art gallery, which later became an Art gallery in Johannesburg. She acquired a collection of paintings by British collector and painter sir Hugh lane, exhibited in London in 1910. Lady Phillips donated his collection of lace and persuaded her husband to send for gallery seven paintings and a sculpture by Rodin.

The gallery collection includes works by Auguste Rodin, Dante, Gabriel Rossetti, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Herbert ward and Henry Moore, as well as the work of South African artist Gerard Sekoto, Walter Battiss, Alexis Preller, Maud Sumner, Sydney Kumalo and others.

Picture gallery of Johannesburg was opened to the public in 1910 on the campus of the University of the Witwatersrand. The architect, sir Edwin Lutyens, invited lady Phillips, came to South Africa in 1910, to explore the territory and to begin construction of the gallery building. But the construction was not completed after the architect's sketches. Five years later, with the start of construction, the building opened its doors to the public without ceremony, immediately after the outbreak of the First world war.

In the late 1940s, the building of the gallery was expanded in accordance with the design architect Lutyens built the Western and Eastern wing of the building. North wing gallery with a modern façade was built during the last reconstruction of the building in 1986-1987 year.