Initially, the collection was formed I. Century Tsvetaev from plaster copies of antique sculptures, copies of the Roman sculptures and mosaics, as well as purchased by the state collection of genuine antiquities Egyptologist Golenishchev.
In April 1923, the people's Commissariat of education decides to establish in the building of the Museum of fine arts, the Central Museum of old Western art on the basis of the collections of the State Museum Fund of the Moscow Public and Rumyantsev museums, the Assembly of the First Museum of old Western art (collection of D. I. Shchukin), the meeting, A. Broker and other private collections, nationalized after the revolution. During the year the Museum received the painting, and in November 1924, opened the first halls of the new art gallery.
In 1930 the Museum were transferred from the Hermitage paintings by Botticelli, Cranach, Poussin and David.
After the Second world war in the Pushkin Museum received a large part of the paintings from the Dresden gallery and the Treasure of Priam, was uncovered by Heinrich Schliemann found on the site of ancient Troy. Later, the collection of the Dresden gallery was returned to the authorities of East Germany. But some values, belonging to the Western German museums and private collectors, remained in the Pushkin Museum.
In 1948 was closed State Museum of new Western art (new Museum displayed), and his collection was divided between the Pushkin Museum and the Hermitage. As a result of the Pushkin Museum received a large part of the confiscated by the Soviet power the collections of the Moscow merchants Sergey Shchukin and Ivan Morozov, consisting of paintings by Renoir, van Gogh, Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso and other European and American masters of the late XIX - early XX centuries (about 300 paintings and over 60 sculptures). It was mainly the work of French Impressionists and post-Impressionists, who are now the pride and the basis of the exhibition of the Pushkin Museum. In the Museum there are belonging to Ivan Morozov picture «Red vineyards in Arles» van Gogh and «Girl on a ball» Pablo Picasso.
In 2005 was separated Gallery of European and American art of the XIX-XX centuries (now located in the wing of the estate of the Golitsyns), many pictures were after liquidation of a new Museum displayed in the Museum's storerooms, joined the Museum's permanent exposition.
Now the collection of the Pushkin Museum to them. A. S. Pushkin has over 560 thousand works of painting, graphic art, sculpture, works of applied art, archaeological monuments and numismatic, artistic photography. Exhibition area of the Museum is 2672,2 square meters, storage facilities - 2364,8 square meters.