Founded in Perth in 1895 with the purchase of the nucleus of an art collection by the Perth Museum, the Art Gallery was opened as part of the museum by Sir Alexander Onslow, administrator of the colony, on 31 July 1895. The foundation stone for the Beaufort Street wing of the museum and gallery was laid by HRH The Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V) on 24 July 1908. For many years the institution was known as the Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of WA. The Library was placed under separate administration in 1954 and in 1959 the Museum was separated from the gallery (which was referred to as the Western Australia Art Gallery), with a board of trustees responsible to the Government for the control of the gallery. A contract for a new art gallery building was signed in February 1977 on the site bounded by James Street, Beaufort Street and Roe Street and the new building, with nine galleries on two levels was opened on 2 October 1979. In 1982 the adjacent old Police Court building (1905) in Beaufort Street was transferred to the Art Gallery Board. In 1978 the name was changed to the Art Gallery of Western Australia.
In 1997 the Art Gallery, Museum and Library were again combined, together with other agencies, to form a Ministry for Culture and the Arts.