The history of the museum began in the late nineteenth century, when in 1870 representatives of the advanced intelligentsia raised the question of creating an art museum in the city. But only in 1921 was an art gallery created, which in 1924 became part of the Natural History Museum. In 1926, the gallery's collection numbered 150 exhibits, including 26 originals that were collected in the pre-revolutionary years and donated by art lovers. Completely looted during the Nazi occupation, the art gallery was revived in 1965 and became a department of the regional museum of local lore.

The house where the museum is located was built at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries by order of the merchant I. Shpolyansky. Its interior had a high artistic value, was one of the examples of the initial period of Art Nouveau. The museum has five exhibition halls, three of which are stationary: "Sacred Art", "Art of the XVIII - early XX centuries", "Country Artists". The museum's exposition also presents a complex of decorative and applied arts. The museum's funds are largely staffed by exhibits from the State Hermitage, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Kyiv Museums of Russian and Ukrainian Art, the Directorate of Art Exhibitions of Ukraine, as well as works that were later donated by famous artists - natives of the city and region.

The museum's collection consists of nine storage groups: painting, graphics, sculpture, ceramics and glass, fabric, wood, metal, archival and documentary, photo.

Today Kirovohrad Regional Art Museum is a cultural center and art card of Kirovohrad region.