The unique location of the museum presented several architectural challenges; building space was limited, and it could not overwhelm the view of Cayuga Lake or the nearby Arts Quad.

Moreover, it would sit atop the knoll where tradition said Ezra Cornell chose the site for his university, at the north end of the Stone Row of McGraw, Morrill, and White Halls.

[4] The resulting design was a narrow tower and a bridge, which critics have likened to a giant sewing machine.

In 2011, the museum opened renovated spaces and a 16,000-square-foot extension inspired by the original plans drawn up by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.

[7] The 16,000 sq ft (1,500 m2) project cost $22 million, including some renovations to the main building, and was funded by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Kresge Foundation.

[9] In 2015, Cornell filed a lawsuit against Pei Cobb Freed & Partners for "architectural malpractice," citing an "inherently flawed and materially defective" design of the new wing.

Spanning from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, the European collection includes works by Albrecht Dürer, William Hogarth, Francisco Goya, Édouard Manet, Charles-François Daubigny, Edgar Degas, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Otto Dix, Fernand Léger and Henri Matisse.There are also extensive holdings of American artists, including Evelyn Metzger, Georgia O'Keeffe and Andy Warhol, as well as members of the Hudson River School and the American Impressionists to contemporary art.