1958年，中国美术馆开始兴建，1962年竣工，1963年由毛泽东主席题写“中国美术馆”馆额并正式开放。

1995年，新建现代化藏品库，面积4100平方米。

2002年5月，中国美术馆开始主楼实施改造装修工程。2003年5月竣工，展厅设施、灯光照明、楼宇自控、恒温恒湿、消防报警、安全监控系统都达到了国内领先水平。7月23日 ，正值建馆40周年之际，中国美术馆重新开放。 

2005年，中国美术馆开始了二期扩建工程，投资近6亿元的二期工程获国务院批准立项，二期扩建工程向西征地1.8 公顷 ，再扩建造40000平方米左右，面积相当于老馆1.5倍的新馆。

 中国美术馆收藏各类美术作品10万余件，以新中国成立前后时期的作品为主，兼有明末、清代、民国初期艺术家的杰作。藏品主要为近现代美术精品，中国当代著名美术家的代表作品和重大美术展览获奖作品，以及民间美术作品。藏品中有任伯年、吴昌硕、黄宾虹、齐白石、徐悲鸿、蒋兆和、司徒乔、李可染、吴作人、叶浅予、罗工柳、吴冠中等艺术家的作品。收藏品类有绘画、雕塑、陶艺民间美术等数十个品类。其中包括年画、剪纸、玩具、皮影、彩塑、演具、木偶、风筝、民间绘画、刺绣等民间美术品。在馆藏品中德国收藏家路德维希夫妇捐赠欧美国际艺术品117件，其中有毕加索作品4幅，这是中国首次大量收藏的西方艺术品，此外还有非洲木雕及其它外国美术作品数百件。

 中国美术馆已举办数千场具有影响的各类美术展览及世界著名艺术家作品展览。在举办具有影响力的全国性展览外，影响较大的国际展览有：“美国哈默藏画500年名作原件展”、“法国19世纪农村风景画展”、“毕加索绘画原作展”、“德国表现主义版画展”、“罗丹艺术大展”、“夏加尔艺术大展”、“米罗东方精神艺术大展”、“奥地利国家博物馆藏品展”、“非洲艺术大展”、 “达利艺术大展”、 “法国印象派绘画珍品展”、“仲夏法兰西——北京”、 “俄罗斯艺术300年——国立特列恰科夫美术博物馆珍品展” （“2006中国俄罗斯年”重要展览之一）、“美国艺术三百年：适应与革新”、 “意大利艺术·意大利生活” （“2006中国意大利年”重要展览之一）、 “从提香到戈雅——普拉多博物馆藏艺术珍品展” （“2007年西班牙文化年”重要展览之一）。2008年举办的“盛世和光——敦煌艺术大展”打破了中国美术馆建馆以来的日参观量、月观众量和单项展览观众量三个记录，两个月内接待观众66万人次。

 第一任馆长刘开渠，1963年任中国美术馆馆长。

第二任馆长杨力舟，1989年任中国美术馆副馆长，中国书法家协会会员。1999年3月至2004年4月任中国美术馆馆长。

第三任馆长冯远，2004年5月至2005年12月任中国美术馆馆长。 

2005年12月，范迪安任中国美术馆馆长。

2014年9月，吴为山任中国美术馆馆长。

 馆办公室： 负责起草全馆综合性行政工作的规章制度、报告、请示、计划、总结及有关文件。负责馆长会议、馆务会议、馆长办公会议以及其它重要会议的准备、组织、会议记录及资料的整理、纪要、简报等工作，完成馆领导交办的其它工作。

党委办公室：贯彻上级党委和馆党委、纪委的指示、决议、决定。督促检查各党支部贯彻执行情况。负责起草各类党委、纪委文件、会议纪要、简报等工作。负责党委、纪委各类会议的会务筹备和组织工作。

财务处：负责制定本馆财务管理的各项规章制度。负责组织制定本馆部门经费和基建经费的预算编制和年终决算报告的编写。

人事处：负责拟定本馆人事管理的规章制度及人才开发规划，并检查、协调、督促、落实。按照干部管理权限负责职工的录用、考核、调配、选拔、聘任、职称评审、培训和常规奖惩工作。

研究与策划部：负责本馆国画、油画、版画、雕塑、摄影、书法、篆刻、当代艺术等门类陈列、展览的学术策划与项目实施工作。负责编辑和组织出版本馆策划的展览图录、作品集、论文集、文献集等出版物。

展览部：负责制定本馆展览工作的各项规章制度。负责接洽展览，准备展览审查资料。负责组织专家对申请展进行展览资格评议。

典藏部：负责制定馆藏作品的保管制度并遵照执行。负责收藏作品的入库、分类、消毒、建档、入账、出入库工作。做好藏品出库时的包装、交接、安全监督、保险等相关工作。 

中国美术馆继续实施“开门办馆”的策略，组成了中国美术馆顾问委员会、中国美术馆艺术委员会、中国美术馆策展委员会、中国美术馆收藏评鉴委员会、中国美术馆展览资格评审小组。

 The Chinese Art Museum is located in the 54th Street of Dongcheng District, Beijing. It was built in 1958. It is one of the ten buildings for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. It covers an area of more than 30,000 square meters, with a construction area of 17051 square meters and an exhibition hall area of 6,000 square meters. Ming Dynasty's national architectural style is the National Museum of Plastic Arts, which focuses on collecting, researching and displaying the works of modern and contemporary Chinese artists. In June 1963, Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the amount of the National Art Museum of China, which defined the status and nature of the National Art Museum of China.

The Chinese Art Museum collects more than 100,000 modern and folk art works, mainly from the period before and after the founding of New China, as well as the masterpieces of artists in the early, Qing and late Ming dynasties, of which 410 works are produced by Qi Baishi alone. In addition to collecting, preserving, displaying and researching excellent modern and contemporary Chinese art works and folk art works, the museum also undertakes the tasks of hosting exhibitions of various types of Chinese and foreign art works, conducting academic exchanges of fine arts at home and abroad, establishing historical materials and archives of modern and contemporary Chinese art, editing and publishing collections of paintings and theoretical collections.

In 1958, the Chinese Art Museum began to be built and completed in 1962. In 1963, Chairman Mao Zedong inscribed the amount of the Museum and officially opened it.

In 1995, a new modern collection warehouse was built with an area of 4100 square meters.

In May 2002, the Chinese Art Museum began to implement renovation and decoration of the main building. Completed in May 2003, exhibition hall facilities, lighting, building automation, constant temperature and humidity, fire alarm, safety monitoring system have reached the leading level in China. On July 23, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the museum, the Chinese Art Museum reopened.

In 2005, the Chinese Art Museum began its second expansion project, which invested nearly 600 million yuan and was approved by the State Council. The second expansion project expropriated 1.8 hectares of land to the west, and then expanded to about 40,000 square meters, covering an area equivalent to 1.5 times that of the old museum.

The Chinese Art Museum collects more than 100,000 works of various kinds of art, mainly from the period before and after the founding of New China. It also has masterpieces of artists in the late Ming, Qing and early Republic of China. The collections are mainly modern fine arts, representative works of famous contemporary Chinese artists and award-winning works in major art exhibitions, as well as folk art works. Among the collections are works by Ren Bonian, Wu Changshuo, Huang Binhong, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Jiang Zhaohe, Stuqiao, Li Keran, Wu Zuoren, Ye Shaoyu, Luo Gongliu and Wu Guanzhong artists. There are dozens of collections of paintings, sculptures, pottery and folk art. These include New Year's paintings, paper-cut, toys, shadow plays, color sculptures, performances, puppets, kites, folk paintings, embroidery and other folk art works. Among the collections, 117 European and American international works of art were donated by German collector Ludwig and his wife, including 4 works by Picasso. This is the first large collection of Western art in China. In addition, there are hundreds of African wood carvings and other foreign works of art.

China Museum of Art has held thousands of influential art exhibitions and exhibitions of works of world famous artists. In addition to holding influential national exhibitions, the influential international exhibitions are: Hammer Tibetan Painting 500 Years Exhibition, French Rural Landscape Painting Exhibition in the 19th Century, Picasso Painting Exhibition, German Expressionist Print Exhibition, Rodin Art Exhibition, Chagall Art Exhibition, etc. Milo Oriental Spiritual Art Exhibition, Austrian National Museum Collection Exhibition, African Art Exhibition, Dali Art Exhibition, French Impressionist Painting Exhibition, Midsummer France-Beijing, Russian Art 300 Years-National Tretchakov Art Museum Exhibition ("2006" One of the important exhibitions of the Year of China and Russia, 300 Years of American Art: Adaptation and Innovation, Italian Art and Italian Life, from Titian to Goya-Prado Museum Collection Art Exhibition, 2007 Spanish Cultural Year Look at one of them. In 2008, Dunhuang Art Exhibition, a grand exhibition of prosperity and light, broke the three records of daily, monthly and individual exhibition visitors since the establishment of the Chinese Art Museum, and received 660,000 visitors in two months.