The building that currently houses the National Palaces Museum of Painting is the Apartment of the Heir Apparent at Dolmabahce Palace. This building was constructed during the reign of Sultan Abdulmecid and symbolizes the new freedom granted to Ottoman heirs to the throne after the Reforms of 1839. Previously, royal princes had been kept in seclusion from the outside world. The building served as the residence of several crown princes including Sultan Abdulaziz, Sultan Murad V, Sultan Abdulhamid II, Sultan Mehmed V Resad, Yusuf Izzettin Efendi, Sultan Mehmed VI, and Caliph Abdulmecid.
After the restoration of a section of the Apartment of the Heir Apparent at Dolmabahce Palace, it opened to the public as the National Palaces Museum of Painting on 22 March 2014. The museum attracted many art lovers with its collection reflecting the art tastes of the Ottoman palace in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the formation and development of Turkey’s first collection of Western-style paintings and drawings. Between March 2014 and March 2020, a total of 200 pictures from the National Palaces Painting Collection and the Topkapi Palace Museum Collection were exhibited here.
Following the completion of the restoration of the second part of the Apartment of the Heir Apparent, it was reorganized to integrate it with the previously opened section, creating a museum that is outstanding in its field in Turkey. The museum’s exhibition panels, lighting, and information systems have been renewed using contemporary museum technology. The number of paintings and drawings in the museum increased to a total of 553 after Yıldız Palace and Topkapi Palace became part of the National Palaces. These works of art range in date from the 16th to 20th centuries. The most notable work is "Prince Halim Hunting Gazelles in the Gatah Desert: Greyhounds’ Share" by Félix-Auguste Clément, which originally hung in the Said Halim Pasa Waterfront Mansion and is the largest Orientalist painting in Turkey.