The Minusinsk City Art Gallery was founded on October 17, 1990. Its initiator and first director was Vasily Yakovlevich Krupsky. The gallery's collection covers visual arts from the late 20th century to the early 21st century and includes works by 80 artists. Among them are masters from Minusinsk, the Republic of Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk, the Republic of Tuva, Tomsk, and Novosibirsk. In 1996, works by artists from Dagestan were added to the collection.

On August 1, 2017, as a result of reorganization, the gallery became part of the municipal budgetary cultural institution 'Minusinsk Regional Local History Museum named after N. M. Martyanov' and was transformed into its department. Over 27 years of operation, the gallery has collected a collection of 504 items, which are now part of the museum's funds. This includes 327 paintings, 170 graphic works, and 7 sculptures.