The idea of a museum in Doylestown dedicated to the works of the Pennsylvania Impressionists has been around at least since 1949, when local artist Walter Emerson Baum founded an informal committee along with Bucks County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles H. Boehm, and The Daily Intelligencer editor George Hotchkiss to explore the possibilities of the establishment of such an institution.

In 1993, the museum had its first major expansion designed by Lynn Taylor Associates from Doylestown, Pennsylvania which included larger exhibitions galleries and a storage vault.

A few years later, in 1996, the museum had its second major expansion which included the installation of the Mari Sabusawa Michener Wing, also designed by Lynn Taylor Associates.

This new 2,700-square-foot (250 m2) all-glass structure with a solid roof and sliding doors on its east and west sides hosts Jazz Nights, lectures and special events.

Philadelphia architect Addison Hutton designed an expanded facility that included a three-story warden's house and guardhouse control center in a “T” shape, using a combination of Italianate and Romanesque Revival styles.

The museum collection includes more than 2,700 paintings, sculptures and works on paper from the Bucks County visual arts tradition, dating from colonial times to the present.

Similar to the French impressionist movement, this artwork is characterized by a plein air style interested in the quality of color, light, and the time of day.

The museum has an online interactive database of artists from the Bucks County region, also available to be viewed on a kiosk in its Family Education Center.

Some examples of artists featured are the Quaker painter Edward Hicks (1780–1849), master woodworker George Nakashima (1905–1990), sculptor Raymond Granville Barger (1906–2001), and authors and illustrators Stan and Jan Berenstain.