Magnitogorsk art gallery is the only Museum of the arts in our working city.
What art museums, costly in material sense, are a sign of maturity of urban infrastructure.
The idea of creating the Museum of fine arts was in the air from the first years of existence of the city (there are two such attempts, one of them was stopped in 1944 by the people's Commissar Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria), but the art gallery was founded only half a century later in 1980. Then it was successfully operated numerous art Studio, arts organizations, art schools, conducted its educational activities the art faculty of Moscow state pedagogical Institute was recognized need in the place where are stored the reference of the artwork in the site for Convention activities. The "godfather" of the Museum was the MMK, with the assistance which was held in Magnitogorsk III Plenum of the USSR Union in 1979, where he was taken a momentous decision to open the gallery. Magnitogorsk art gallery was founded 27 ноября1979 g. decision of the Executive Committee for № 492 "About the opening of an art gallery in Magnitogorsk". 5 марта1980 was published by order of the Ministry of culture of the RSFSR № 124 "On the inclusion of "Magnitogorsk art gallery" in the network of the state museums under the Ministry of culture of the RSFSR".
In the first years of the gallery's cooperation with Magnitogorsk metallurgical plant was very close. Right in the workshops organized mobile exhibitions, lectures on art.
The first exhibition "Artists of Autonomous republics" was opened on 24 October 1980. Then the art gallery had its own building and was located in several places: in the block the art school, GPTU № 13, the exhibition hall of the Moscow state pedagogical Institute, the premises of the Union of artists of the USSR. Sometimes exhibitions were held in the halls of the Palace of pioneers, the lobby of the Central library of the trade Union Committee of MMK, in the circus, in music school. M. Glinka. The building of the Magnitogorsk art gallery has received only in 1986. It was a bookstore, adapted to the art Museum.
In Magnitogorsk art gallery exhibited the exhibition of the State Tretyakov gallery "Images of Russian masters of the late XIX – early XX centuries" from the State Hermitage Museum "Western art of the Renaissance", "West European engraving XV-XVIII centuries from the State Hermitage collection", "Monuments of culture and art of the ancient world", "Contemporary art from Incombank collection" (O. Tselkov, L. Purygin, Yu. Babich and others), from a private collection "graphic art by Mikhail Shemyakin," a solo exhibition Eduard Drobitsky within the 250-year anniversary of the Russian Academy of arts, from the collections of the Chelyabinsk Museum of arts "Golden map of Russia" (exhibition project of the State Tretyakov gallery), international exhibition project "Mezzo Tinto" and other projects.
Since 2005 in the city of Magnitogorsk started a large-scale project – the international festival of contemporary art "Another reality", acquainting residents with the latest trends of art development in the field of promotion of contemporary music, theatre, filmmaking and visual arts. In the framework of this festival Magnitogorsk art gallery organized a graffiti festival, contemporary art exhibition, promotions. Rich program of the festival gave the audience and participants of many happy meetings, unexpected discoveries and experiences. It became a real festival, a bright event in the cultural life of Magnitogorsk.
In 2007 Magnitogorsk art gallery was opened the information-educational center "Russian Museum: virtual branch" created on the basis of long-term scientific, educational and methodological developments of the leading specialists of the Russian Museum, and use in their work the latest computer technology.