Art gallery located in Taganrog on Alexandrovskaya street, was founded in 1898, the Idea of creating this Museum belonged to the writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. It was he who first suggested that the Taganrog needed a Museum, which collects Antiques and works of art. At the request of the writer and the promotion of I. E. Repin, the Council of the Academy of arts in 1902 was transferred to the city Museum eight paintings by Russian painters.

In 1930 the Museum was renamed in local history. In the same year the institution has provided new premises. In 1968, the art collection of the Museum was singled out as a separate Museum called the Taganrog art gallery. In 1976, the gallery opened the exhibition in the beautiful mansion of A. Z. Hendrina, which is a monument of architecture. The mansion was built in 1870 by the Author of the project was the architect of the Tenishev. Hendrina mansion owned since 1898 until revolutionary times.

In 2003, the art gallery was renamed the Taganrog Museum of art. In 2005, the Museum was donated from the family of V. Ishinaga more than 30 works by this American artist who was born in Taganrog. In 2011, the city administration has decided to transfer to the art Museum part of the building, previously owned by one of the branches of the South-Western Bank of Sberbank of Russia.

Today in the collections of the Taganrog art Museum, there are about 7 thousand exhibits of painting, sculpture, graphics, icons, and decorative arts. Among this collection of the most valuable are the paintings of Russian artists of XVIII-XX CC.