The museum was founded by the efforts of the Ukrainian intelligentsia at the end of the nineteenth century as the first publicly accessible museum in Kiev.
The museum building was designed by architect Peter Boytsov in neoclassical style. The project was finalized and supervised by the famous Kiev architect Vladislav Gorodetsky. The sculptural decoration of the facade is made by the workshop of Elio Sala.
The first exhibition On the occasion of the XI All-Russian Archaeological Congress opened in the unfinished premises of the Kiev City Museum of Antiquities and Arts in August 1899. The official opening and consecration of the institution, which was named the Kiev Art, Industrial and Scientific Museum named after the Emperor Nicholas Alexandrovich, took place on December 30, 1904.
In 1919, after nationalization, the museum became known as the 1st State, since 1924 - the All—Ukrainian Historical named after Taras Shevchenko, since 1936 — the State Ukrainian, since 1939 — the State Museum of Ukrainian Art. During the German occupation of Kiev in 1942, the museum was merged with the collection of Russian art under the general name of the State Museum of Eastern European Art, in 1944 the previous status of the museum was restored. The change in the names of the museum reflected the complex processes of the country's life and certain stages of the formation of the national museum business. In particular, it is possible to trace by the names how the profile of the collection changed, and how individual parts of the primary assembly departed to become the basis for the birth of other museums in Kiev.
The last name of this institution - the National Art Museum of Ukraine - appeared in 1994 during the independence of the Ukrainian state, which showed the high status of the museum as the leading collection of national art, which still remains the spiritual treasury of our country, its pride and wealth.