The historical establishment of the National Art Gallery (BSLN) was the result of the initiation of idea mooted between 1954 and 1956 by the Malaya Arts Council, helmed by the late Tan Sri Mubin Sheppard and Frank Sullivan. According to the 1974-1975 BSLN Annual Report and the 1979 National Art Museum Annual Report, the BSLN Board of Trustees was formed on 3 June 1958. On 27 August 1958, a two-storey building at No. 109, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, adjacent to Malaysia’s first parliament building (then known as the Federation of Malaya), was officially allocated by the government to the National Art Gallery. The ordinance to establish the BSLN Board of Trustees was given the royal assent by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in 1959 through Act 516: National Art Gallery Act 1959.