A wonderful museum with a collection of famous Russian and Kazakh authors. Here you can see the works of Shishkin, Levitan, Kramskoy and many others. I recommend taking an entrance ticket with an excursion (+~2000 tenge), it's worth it. It will be much more interesting with a guide, because there are people working here who are sincerely interested in the paintings exhibited in the museum. There are many interesting facts from biographies and history. A trip to Semey (formerly Semipalatinsk) without going to this Museum would be less exciting.
The Nevzorov family. A married couple. A family of engineers who moved from Leningrad (St. Petersburg, Petrograd) at one time (WWII). Who have gathered an art exhibition in more than one generation. And gratuitously left their collection in Semipalatinsk. I personally saw them at the opening of their gallery (they came to the opening), a low bow to the honorary citizens of Semipalatinsk.