The most important part of the museum collection was formed thanks to its founders, researchers of history of culture of Perm Krai Alexander Syropjatova and Nicholas Serebrennikova. In 1920 – ies were organized research expedition to the region, which were collected by the collection of the Perm wooden sculpture, gold front and ornamental sewing, cult objects and Stroganov icons. By 1925 the Museum collection has more than 4000 items. The first Director of the museum Alexander syropjatov wrote: “the opening of the Perm Museum of Art started a big and serious business, the value of which during normal development to be assessed in a broad, nationwide, but not only in Perm scale.”
In the 1920 – ies the museum’s collection was enriched at the expense of the State museum Fund, created as a result of the nationalization of private collections. In Moscow museums were opened a new artistic culture of new Western art, and others. In consequence many of them were disbanded and the work transferred to the provincial museums, including the Perm. In 1929, the country’s first museum opened an exhibition of contemporary art of the Urals, which became the beginning of the collection of art of the XX century. In 1932, the Museum opened in the former Spaso – Preobrazhensky Cathedral, which managed to preserve the unique carved iconostasis, brought from the monastery, which is situated in the village Pyskor. In 1936, the museum has got a new name – the Perm state art gallery. During the great Patriotic war the building the gallery is located on the storage of the collection of the State Russian Museum, there was a workshop for making campaign posters, the head of which was Director Nikolai pieces of silver. Many of these posters was included in the collection.
In the 1960 – 1990 – ies of the scientific staff of the gallery participated in expeditions, which were collected items of folk art of the Perm region: folk icon, costume, ceramics, weaving, painting on wood. At the end of XX century, the gallery began to work closely with foreign artists, collectors and art historians. The famous German collector of twentieth – century art jürgen Weighardt donated more than 150 graphic works from its collection, a member of the Royal Academy of arts in the UK, the artist Kirill Sokolov gave the gallery of their work, as well as a collection of old English prints. The Central place in the collecting activity of the gallery is the collection of Russian art of the XVI – beginning of the XXI century, which clearly reflects the development of the artistic culture of Russia and Perm Krai.