Originated in 1913, the museum's permanent collection began with the purchase in 1915 of William Merritt Chase's painting, A Venetian Balcony. Since then, the collection has grown with a focus on 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century American art and includes colonial portraits, American landscape paintings, and American Impressionism.
Other highlights include urban realist paintings from the ‘Ashcan School’, and a comprehensive holding of 19th- and 20th-century works on paper.