Established in 1942, the College of Art, New Delhi is an educational institution offering undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in painting, sculpture, print-making, applied art and visual communication. Since 1953, it has hosted an annual exhibition of artworks produced by its students in various different mediums.

The College was first established as a department of art within Delhi Polytechnic (now Delhi Technological University). In 1964, it was moved from the Delhi Polytechnic campus to its present location in Tilak Nagar and, in 1974, became affiliated to the University of Delhi. In 2008, the College upgraded its campus with the addition of several new structures. The main block was designed by the artist and architect Satish Gujral. The new facilities included an art gallery, an auditorium and spaces for artist studios. 

Over the years, several prominent modern Indian artists have served as faculty members at the College, including Bhabesh Chandra Sanyal, Dhanraj Bhagat, Somnath Hore, Rakesh Sharma, Sailoz Mukherjea and KS Kulkarni. Among its notable alumni are the artists Arpita Singh, Paramjit Singh, Paresh Maity, Avinash Chandra and Manjit Bawa among others. The artist and writer Jagdish Swaminathan also briefly studied at the College.

In 2021, despite protests from both students and staff, the Government of Delhi de-affiliated the College of Art from the University of Delhi and affiliated it with Ambedkar University.