The original predecessor of The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art was under the name Yahata Municipal Museum of Arts and Crafts (later renamed to Kitakyushu Municipal Yahata Museum of Art). Opened in 1958, it was situated in the former Yahata in Fukuoka Prefecture. The present Museum opened in 1974 in Tobata, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, and is considered a pioneer among large-scale public art museums built in Western Japan. The Museum was designed by architect Isozaki Arata (1931-2022). It is known as one of the masterpieces of his early museum designs, along with the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma that opened in the same year. The building is characterized by its impressive exterior, with two rectangular parallelepiped-forms that cantilever boldly from the hillside. The architectural form itself was structured by putting together basic square units, one side of each unit being 9.6 meters long.
In 1987, the Annex that adjoins the Main Building was constructed. It too was designed by Isozaki. In 2003, as a branch of The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Riverwalk Gallery opened inside a multi-purpose cultural complex, Riverwalk Kitakyushu, in Kokurakita. Furthermore, in 2013, The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Kurosaki Community Gallery was established in Yahatanishi, Kitakyushu.
The Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art underwent an extensive renovation starting in September 2015, with the renewal opening occurring in November 2017.

The Collection of the Museum consists of the works inherited from the Yahata Municipal Museum of Arts and Crafts, as well as those we acquired through the period of over half a century. The wide range of mediums in our Collection includes painting, sculpture, sketches and prints. Approximately 7７00 works centered on national and international modern and contemporary artworks are owned by the Museum.