The history of the Krasnoyarsk State Art Museum named after V. I. Surikov begins in 1921, when a decision was made at a meeting of the Presidium of the Yenisei Regional Executive Committee to organize an art gallery in the city. Although this decision was not implemented, an art and antiquities department named after V. I. Surikov was created based on the collection of artworks gathered at the City Museum (now the Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum) since the late 19th century.

Many exhibits came from private collections, including works by artists such as M. F. Kvadalya, F. A. Vasilyev, K. H. Reykhel, and G. I. Gurkin. Among the museum's donors were representatives of well-known Krasnoyarsk families: Matveevs, Surikovs, Yudins, and Gadalovs.

A significant part of the collection consisted of works gathered by gold industrialist and art connoisseur P. I. Kuznetsov, who supported V. I. Surikov during his studies at the Academy of Arts.

By 1922, the department had about 209 artworks. The collection was replenished through the State Museum Fund. In 1929, works by M. K. Bashkirtseva, S. Yu. Zhukovsky, V. E. Makovsky, M. V. Nesterov, I. E. Repin, and others were received from the State Russian Museum. The museum received support from the Ministry of Culture of the USSR and the RSFSR, as well as from leading museums in the country, which allowed the collection to include works by I. I. Brodsky, A. M. Gerasimov, N. N. Dubovsky, K. A. Korovin, and V. D. Polenov.

On May 31, 1957, in response to a resolution from the regional committee of the CPSU and the executive committee of the regional council, a decree from the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR was issued to open a separate museum, the Krasnoyarsk Art Gallery, based on the art collections of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum. The gallery opened on May 1, 1958, in a residential building at 68 Prospekt im. gazety "Krasnoyarsky Rabochy". Its collection included 300 works of pre-revolutionary Russian and partially foreign art.

In the early years, the gallery actively developed, and plans were made to acquire a new building in the city center. The first director, Alexander Davidovich Spevakovsky, played an important role in this. The collection was supplemented with works from the State Historical Museum and the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin, as well as from private collections. Since 1983, the gallery has held the status of a museum.

Today, the museum has three locations in different parts of the city. In 1982, it acquired a building in the historical center of Krasnoyarsk, where the department of 20th and 21st-century art is now located. In 1983, the exhibition of 18th and early 20th-century art was placed in the mansion of Vera Gadalova. Decorative and applied arts are presented in the historical building of the museum.

Unfortunately, due to a lack of exhibition space, a large part of the collection is not on display. Many exhibits can only be seen at rare exhibitions, and some have never been exhibited.

In 1985, it was decided to transfer the building of the former Krasnoyarsk Theological Seminary to the museum, but this decision was not implemented, and the building was transferred to the Krasnoyarsk Metropolis.

In 1993, a restoration workshop opened at the museum. In 2011, the museum was given a building that had previously housed the Norwegian consulate and the trading company "Brothers Revillion" before the revolution, and later, a university faculty and a research institute, which had been damaged by fire.