[1] The museum was founded in 1992 with a $1.5 million gift from Frederick R. Weisman, a noted art collector and philanthropist.

Along with his gift, Weisman loaned the museum roughly $3 million of contemporary art from his personal collection.

[4][5][6] The founding director of the museum was Nora Halpern, who had previously worked as the curator of Weisman's private collection.

[7] Following a disagreement with the administration concerning censorship of an exhibit at the museum, Halpern left the university in 1994.

[8] In 1995, Michael Zakian was named the new director of the museum,[9] and served the Pepperdine art community for over 25 years before his death on January 14, 2020.