The Kyiv Museum of Russian Art was opened in 1922 based on nationalized collections from local industrialists and patrons, among which the collection of the Tereshchenko family stood out. The museum houses an extensive collection of Russian art, covering the period from antiquity, including the Novgorod icon of Saints Boris and Gleb from the 13th century, to 20th-century works such as those by Robert Falk and Mikhail Nesterov.

The museum also has a significant collection of 19th-century Russian painting, including works by Vasily Tropinin, Ivan Kramskoy, Ilya Repin, and Ivan Shishkin. The museum, originally called the 'Kyiv Picture Gallery,' was inaugurated on November 12, 1922. Thanks to the nationalized artworks, particularly those belonging to the Tereshchenko family, visitors can enjoy masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and graphics by Russian masters from the second half of the 19th century.

Among the gifts from the Tereshchenko family are Shishkin's works such as 'First Snow' and 'Stream in the Forest,' Repin's 'Poprishchin,' Yaroshenko's 'Student,' Kramskoy's 'Peasant with a Bridle,' Vasnetsov's 'Three Princesses of the Underworld,' Fedotov's 'The Gamblers,' Vrubel's 'Girl Against a Persian Carpet,' Polenov's 'Winter. Imochentsy,' and Vasnetsov's 'Twilight.' The museum also features cycles of works by Vereshchagin, sculptures by Antokolsky, and many other pieces. Today, the museum takes pride in its unique monographic collections of works by Shishkin, Vereshchagin, and Ge.

The museum's collection has been enriched by private collections of Kyiv residents, such as Hansen, Varvara, and Bohdan Khanenko, as well as the Drawing School led by the great educator and artist Nikolai Murashko. An important part of the collection consists of works of Soviet art that developed in the 1920s and 1930s.

Currently, the museum's collection includes about 12,000 works of sculpture, painting, graphics, and decorative applied art, spanning the period from the 12th to the 20th century.