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The Gibbes Museum of Art was established in 1858 as the Carolina Art Association and moved into a building in Charleston in 1905. The museum was designed by Frank Pierce Milburn who used architectural elements like a Tiffany-style dome, Doric columns, and pediment-capped windows and doors. Formerly known as the Gibbes Art Gallery, the Gibbes Museum of Art, was established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858. The museum moved into a new Beaux Arts building at 135 Meeting Street, in the Charleston Historic District, in 1905. The museum opened on April 11, 1905. The collection on display on the opening day included more than 300 pictures, many bronzes, and about 200 miniatures in addition to an "instructive collection" of Japanese prints.

Today the Gibbes Museum also has a premier collection of over 10,000 works of fine art, principally American works with many of them having connection to Charleston or to the South. Visitors can see curators and conservators work through observation windows. They can also now observe the renowned Gibbes collection of more than 300 miniature portraits up close in open storage cabinets. The entire ground floor of the museum has been made admission-free to serve as a creative community space.

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Formerly known as the Gibbes Art Gallery, the Gibbes Museum of Art is an art museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Established as the Carolina Art Association in 1858, the museum moved into a new Beaux Arts building at 135 Meeting Street, in the Charleston Historic District, in 1905.