Michener Art Museum collects both historic and contemporary American works, with a focus on the art of Bucks County, with a permanent collection of more than 2,700 objects. A fine collection of Pennsylvania impressionist paintings, and strong Arts and Crafts and modern studio-furniture holdings represent the traditions of southeastern Pennsylvania, as the museum continues to build its holdings of contemporary painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts.
Notable are Thomas Hicks' and Jonathan Trego's mid-19th-century portraits, and Edward W. Redfield's 20th-century impressionist landscapes.
With a contemporary addition, the massive stone walls and warden's house that make up the core of the Michener Art Museum today began as the Bucks County prison in 1884. The outdoor sculpture garden and terrace occupy what was once the prison yard.