Opened in 1926, until the opening of the Vytautas the Great Museum, the gallery became a kind of Central Museum of Lithuanian Art and Culture.

Initially, it was thought to build a palace of imposing architecture, which would have embodied the concept of a museum of romanticism as a sanctuary of the nation's culture. Even in the initial blueprint, that architect V. Dubeneckis had presented, it was thought that the building would follow more of a neo-classical style. However, the gallery was built more simpler, its composition is closer to the simple forms of modernism.

After the opening and filling gallery expositions, its humble and deprived construction resulted in a lack of space again and art collections were incorporated into the Vytautas the Great Cultural Museum in 1937.