It was established by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1801, and is housed in a building designed by Louis Sauvageot [fr] and built between 1877, and 1888.

[citation needed] The museum building was built between 1877, and 1888 to designs by Louis Sauvageot [fr].

[citation needed] The collections include paintings, sculptures, drawings and objets d'art from the Renaissance to the present day, including a collection of Russian icons dating from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth century, and some 8000 drawings.

The museum holds paintings of several European schools from the sixteenth century to the present day.

Among them is work by:[citation needed] The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen houses a lost statue by Pierre Paul Puget.