The collection is housed by the building in which the painter Gheorghe Tattarescu (1820-1894) lived and worked for over four decades. He and Theodor Aman were the founders of the Bucharest School of Fine Arts (1864). The house, one of the oldest civilian buildings still standing today in Bucharest, was built at the beginning of the 19th century by Dimitrie Popescu (from Gorganului) and in 1855 was purchased by painter Gheorghe Tattarescu.
In 1953, following the donation made by the painter’s niece, Georgeta Wertheimer-Ghika, the Gheorghe Tattarescu Museum was inaugurated. Another important donor was painter Michaela Eleutheriade, also a niece of Tattarescu’s. The museum’s collection features 1294 pieces – 154 paintings, 613 sketches and drawings, 160 sculptures and objects of decorative art, as well as photographs, documents and books.
