The institution was founded in 1903 by Lotte Hegewisch of Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel to house an art gallery.
Designed by Georg Lohr, the building was constructed between 1908 and 1909, opening on 14 November 1909 by Carl Neumann, chairman of the Schleswig-Holsteinischer Kunstverein, founded in 1843.
[4] The museum houses the Schleswig-Holsteinischen Kunstverein's collection, including objets d'art, photographs, video art, sculptures and paintings.
Much of the original collection was destroyed in World War Two air raids.
In July 2018 the Kunsthalle zu Kiel published a provenance research dossier on 85 paintings and 9 sculptures.