The Tula Art and Historical Museum was founded in 1919. Its collection was formed from the funds of the Chamber of Antiquities, established in 1884, and nationalized after the October Revolution from artworks in the noble estates of the Tula region, such as the Olsufyevs, Bobrinskys, Gagarins, Urusovs, and others. Since its opening, the museum's collection has been constantly replenished. Exhibits come from the Ministry of Culture, the Union of Artists of Russia, artists' studios, and private collections, with many works donated.

In 1927, the museum was renamed to a local history museum, but in 1939, according to a decree of the SNK of the RSFSR, it was divided into two separate regional museums: local history and art. During the Great Patriotic War, the collection was evacuated to Siberia and later returned to Tula. In 1964, the museum, which had previously been located in the Officers' House, received its own building designed by Tula architect P. M. Zaitsev. In 1995, it was renamed the Tula Museum of Fine Arts, and in 2013 it received its modern name, the Tula Regional Art Museum.

The museum, one of the largest in Russia, houses more than 23,000 works of painting, sculpture, graphics, decorative and applied arts, and folk art. Many of these have been exhibited in the USA, Germany, France, Spain, and Sweden. In addition to exhibitions, the museum engages in scientific research and educational activities.

A special value is represented by the collection of Western European art, which includes works by renowned masters from Italy, such as Leandro Bassano, Orazio Samacchini, Luca Giordano, Domenico Fetti, from Holland, Clas Molenaer, Philips Wouwerman, Jan Wijnants, Govert Flinck, Jan van Huysum, from Flanders, Daniel Seghers, Frans Snyders, Jan Paul Gillemans, David Teniers the Younger, and from France, Claude Vernet, Eustache Lesueur, Hubert Robert.

The museum takes pride in the works of outstanding Russian artists, such as A. P. Antropov, V. L. Borovikovsky, V. A. Tropinin, I. K. Aivazovsky, I. I. Shishkin, I. E. Repin, V. I. Surikov, V. D. Polenov, I. I. Levitan, B. M. Kustodiev, V. A. Serov, K. A. Korovin, L. I. Solomatkin, as well as artists of avant-garde movements from the 1910s and 1930s, such as P. P. Konchalovsky, A. V. Kuprin, V. V. Rozhdestvensky, V. V. Kandinsky, A. M. Rodchenko, K. S. Malevich, D. P. Shterenberg, and works by many authors from subsequent decades, including Tula artists.