Since its doors opened to the public in 1951, the Birmingham Museum of Art has collected and exhibited the art of Alabama. Among the earliest works to enter the collection were paintings by significant Alabama artists including the miniaturist Hannah Elliott and the landscapist Carrie Hill. Throughout its history, the Museum has continued its commitment to the arts of Alabama. In 1995, it organized Made in Alabama, a groundbreaking survey of artistic production in the state during the nineteenth century. In addition to collecting the works of academically trained native artists, the Museum has built an impressive collection of folk art, including painting, sculpture, quilts, and pottery. Thanks to the generosity of Robert and Helen Cargo, the Museum possesses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Southern quilts in the country. Similarly, several major private collectors are helping the Museum build the most significant repository of Alabama pottery in the State.

The art of the American West is well represented in the Museum's permanent collection. In addition to spectacular western landscapes such as Albert Bierstadt's Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California (1865) and William Louis Sonntag's Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (1886), the Museum has significant Western scenes by Henry F. Farny, James Everett Stuart, Joseph Henry Sharp, and De Cost Smith. The Museum also has a fine collection of graphic works by George Catlin, Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and Will Crawford. Most important, perhaps, are the Museum's Western sculptures, including a rare cast of James Earle Fraser's The End of the Trail (1918), works by Charles Schreyvogel and Adolph Weinman, and important bronzes by Frederic Remington, the most significant of which is the first cast of The Wounded Bunkie (1896).

Spanning the late 18th through mid-20th century, the Museum’s collection of American painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts features paintings by Gilbert Stuart, Childe Hassam, and John Singer Sargent; sculptures by Hiram Powers and Frederic Remington; and important decorative pieces by Tiffany Studios and Frank Lloyd Wright. Considered one of the most important American landscape paintings, the Museum's Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California (1865) by Albert Bierstadt was recently chosen by The National Endowment for the Humanities as one of 40 American masterpieces that best depict the people, places, and events that have shaped our country and tell America’s story.

The African collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art consists of about 1,600 objects.  Africa is a continent of enormous diversity, with a landmass of almost twelve million square miles, and topography ranging from desert to snow-capped mountains.  The continent is home to over fifty countries, and hundreds of ethnic groups, cultures, languages, religions, and traditions.  African art, in its many forms and functions, embodies this diversity.  The Museum has sought to build a collection that represents all of the major regions of Africa, as well as reflecting ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity within those regions across time.  The collection includes masks, figure sculpture, textiles, ceramics, household and ritual objects, jewelry, musical instruments, currencies, furniture, clothing, and costume.

The influence of Indian culture and arts on the surrounding countries is profound. As home to the Hindu and Buddhist religions, the spread of these beliefs also helped the diffusion of Indian art and aesthetics. Sensuous and seductive, the sculptures display not only the influence of the Indian love of nature, but also the deep concern the Indians have for spiritual matters.

The Museum has a number of important sculptures from various periods throughout this part of the world. Outstanding 2nd-3rd century Buddhist images of the Buddha and his followers from Gandharan (modern Afghanistan and Pakistan), a superb 12th century sculpture of Shiva and Parvati from the Halebid region of India, an exquisite 8th/9th century seated bronze image of Avalokitesvara from Sri Lanka and an unusual, large appliquéd and embroidered 19th century Thankga from eastern Tibet are all part of the collection.