The American University Museum hosts two permanent collections:

The Katzen Collection, provided through an extraordinary gift from Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen, contains more than 300 works of art including paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture. The collection, a joyous, eclectic mix of fine, pop, and folk art, contains many works from artists such as Marc Chagall, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, and Pablo Picasso.

The Watkins Collection which contains more than 4500 works of art, including paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture focuses on twentieth century art, with a special emphasis on Washington area art produced since the 1940s. The Watkins Collection was created in 1945 as a memorial to C. Law Watkins, the former chair of the Department of Art at American University.