This modern gallery was opened in 1989 (architects E. Miliūnas, K. Kisielius, S. Juškys) and is named after Mykolas Žilinskas (1904–1992).
M. Žilinskas, one the most famous Lithuanian art collectors of 20th century, was born in 1904 in the village of Smalininkai (Marijampolė district). Between 1925 and 1932, M. Žilinskas studied history in Vytautas Magnus University and during World War II he pursued his studies in the universities of Berlin and Paris (Sorbonne). In 1933 he was appointed as head of the Lithuanian Republic State Security Department Press Division and in 1936 he became the Chancellery Director for the Cabinet of Ministers. In 1940 he emigrated and settled in Berlin. M. Žilinskas decided to present his remarkable art collection, which he gathered in the West, to Lithuania. The systematic transportation of the collection started in 1971. After the official formalities, representatives from Ministry of Culture and the Lithuanian Art Museum started paying visits to M. Žilinskas. The collector donated the art collection to the National M. K. Čiurlionis State Museum of Art, which had been established in the city of his youth – Kaunas. When the first exhibits reached Kaunas, the Mykolas Žilinskas collection branch was established in M. K. Čiurlionis Museum. Today it keeps 1,683 presented artworks, the personal library of M. Žilinskas, memorial items and an archive.
http://www.ciurlionis.lt/about-the-museum