A fine arts museum is a place for the display and preservation of high-quality or especially interesting artworks from a permanent collection, such as paintings, sculptures, and installations. Fine arts museums can often include crafts and, sometimes, manufactured products, but places devoted mainly to these subjects are not classified as fine arts exhibits. This usage does not include art exhibition spaces (which are reserved for temporary or rotating exhibits).

A permanent collection distinguishes the museum from a space devoted to rotating art exhibitions. Showing some temporary exhibitions does not eliminate a museum's permanent-collection purpose.

Crafts or manufactured objects can appear in the collection. A museum devoted mainly to applied design has a separate applied arts meaning.