The National Gallery of Arts is a state institution under the care of the Ministry of Culture. The beginnings of the National Arts Gallery can be traced back to the endeavours of a group of Albanian artists and the Arts Committee of 1946. It has changed location several times.

The current venue opened on 29 November 1974, and is situated on the Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard. The gallery currently houses 4626 artworks and more than 600 registered artists in the archives.

The Gallery of Arts is the only national institution that exhibits, conserves, studies, restores, publishes, documents and archives the works of art in the country.