Nielsen Gallery was founded in 1963 and is located in the historic Back Bay district of Boston at 179 Newbury Street. The directors of the gallery are Nina Nielsen, John Baker, and Josh Buckno.

In 2009, the AICA awarded "Jay DeFeo: Applaud the Black Fact" second place for "Best Show in a Commercial Gallery, Nationally." In 2005, the AICA awarded "The Privilege of Solitude: Alfred Jensen and Forrest Bess" the national award for "Best Show in a Commercial Gallery." Other major exhibitions have included "Forty Four Psychoanalytic Drawings (1939-41)" of Jackson Pollock, "The Self-Reliant Spirit," (Albert Pinkam Ryder, Ralph Albert Blakelock, Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley and four contemporary artists), and survey exhibitions of Albert York and Martin Ramirez.

The primary commitment of the gallery is to exhibit and support contemporary artists, whose personal visions resist categorization, including the estates of Porfirio DiDonna, Gregory Gillespie, Harvey Quaytman, and Christopher Wilmarth.