The Museum of Fine Arts in Nizhny Tagil is located in three historical buildings in the city center. The main building, constructed in 1865 in merchant style, belonged to the Tagil merchant P. T. Aksyonov. It houses the main exhibition halls and the museum's administration. Next to it is a small garden with park sculptures. The building has three floors, and a glass dome is installed on the roof above the main hall for additional lighting.

After the war, the building was expanded with a two-story annex, also equipped with a glass dome. In front of the museum entrance stands the sculpture "City Angel" by Alexander Ivanov, depicting a man with wings and a dog at his feet.

Across the road from the main building is the museum's second building, which houses studios for artists and sculptors. This building is designed in Russian style and resembles the Russian Museum in Moscow. It is a cultural heritage site of regional significance.

Next to the studio building is the building of the Union of Artists of Nizhny Tagil. Also near the main museum building is a library located in a former residential house.

Nearby are the Demidov provisioning warehouses from the 18th century, which house the Museum of Nature and Environmental Protection, as well as the "Fondokhranilishche" Museum. A monument to the T-34 tank is installed nearby. Close by are the Nizhny Tagil Historical and Local Lore Museum and the administration of the "Museum-Reserve 'Gornozavodskoy Ural'". Between these sites is an exhibition of antique factory equipment. Near the second museum building is the "House of Rare Books" Museum.

All these buildings and sites form a single museum complex.

The main building of the museum was originally used as a food warehouse and belonged to the Aksyonov family until the revolution. After 1917, it housed a youth club. The second museum building was previously a city school.

The creation of the museum is linked to the evacuation during the Great Patriotic War of representatives of the intelligentsia and works of art from besieged Leningrad and occupied Ukraine. During this time, a puppet theater, an art school, and a museum, then called the "Provincial Picture Gallery," opened in Nizhny Tagil. In 1943, the first art exhibition was held, which laid the foundation for the museum's establishment, officially opened on September 30, 1944.

In 1955 and 1963, the museum building was closed for reconstruction, after which its area increased by one and a half times.

Today, the museum's collection includes about 10,000 works of Russian and Western European art from the 16th to the 21st century. It features works by famous Russian artists such as Borovikovsky, Tropinin, Kramskoy, Shishkin, Savrasov, Makovsky, Levitan, Repin, and others. The museum also houses works from the Renaissance, including the "Tagil Madonna," attributed to Raphael Santi.

The museum's collecting activities primarily focus on domestic art of the 20th century, especially works by artists from Nizhny Tagil, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. Important mini-collections are part of the projects "Returned Name" and "Artists of Conscience," which received an award at the "Intermuseum-2009" festival.

The museum's collection includes works by Ural and Tagil artists such as Turzhansky, Antonov, Berngard, Brusilovsky, Volovich, and others. These works reflect the development of Ural art and the "Tagil School."

The museum actively hosts exhibitions, introducing viewers to the works of Tagil artists and masters of Tagil trays. Since 1967, it has held exhibitions of children's creativity. The museum also engages in educational and restoration activities, for which it received an award at the "Intermuseum-2008" festival. In 2010 and 2011, the museum won a grant competition from the V. Potanin Charitable Foundation, implementing the projects "Soldiers. Soldaten. Soldiers" and "The Original Light of Salafiel."