Kirkland Museum has a nationally important display of 20th-century decorative art, with more than 3,300 works on view of Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Glasgow Style, Wiener Werkstätte, De Stijl, Bauhaus, Art Deco, Modern and Pop Art.

A major survey of Colorado art history is documented, with over 170 artists represented by more than 700 works. The museum's collections have a strong focus on the first three quarters of the 20th Century. The museum shows a retrospective of Colorado's distinguished painter, Vance Kirkland (1904-1981).