It was established in 1878 as a small collection of 117 works exhibited at the
Athens University. In 1896,
Alexandros Soutzos, a jurist and art lover, bequeathed his collection and estate to the
Greek Government aspiring to the creation of an art museum. The museum opened in 1900 and the first curator was
Georgios Jakobides, a famous Greek painter who was a member of the
Munich School artistic movement. After World War II the works began for a new building. After relocating the sculptures in the new
National Glyptotheque, there was a discussion to renovate the main building and to build a new wing, which was completed in 2021. In 2025, an exhibition at the gallery titled "The Allure of the Bizarre" was attacked by
Niki MP Nikolaos Papadopoulos and a companion who threw four paintings to the floor and broke their glass frames, saying that the paintings were offensive to Orthodox Christianity. The two were briefly detained.
Directors •
Georgios Iakovidis (1900-1918) •
Zacharias Papantoniou (1918-1940) • Georgios Stratigos (1940-1944) • Dimitrios Evangelidis (1945-1947) • Nikolaos Bertos (1947-1949) • Marinos Kalligas (1949-1971) • Andreas Ioannou (1971-1972) • Dimitris Papastamos (1972-1989) • Maria Michaelidou (1990-1991) •
Marina Lampraki-Plaka (1992-2022) • Syrago Tsiara (2022- present) ==Collections==