The Figge Art Museum had been originally known as the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, which had opened in 1925 and had been Iowa?s first municipal art gallery. Its initial collection included a gift of 350 Mexican Colonial and European paintings, which had now been expanded to a collection of over 3,500 sculptures, paintings, and other works of art beginning from the 16th century.

In 1987, the art gallery had changed its name to the Davenport Museum of Art. In 2003, the museum had been renamed as the Figge Art Museum in recognition of the $13.25M donation it received from the V.O. & Elizabeth Kahl Figge Foundation. Two years later, the museum had also relocated to its current and more expansive location ? a 114,000 square foot property that had been designed by UK architect David Chipperfield.