Through its public programs, art classes, and exhibitions, MAM strives to create experiences that inspire, challenge, and foster community to shape our shared future.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 14, 1986, for its significance in art and architecture.

The American collection comprises paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, and sculpture dating from the 18th century to the present.

The museum's holdings of historical, modern, and contemporary Indigenous art from North America include textiles, pottery, beadwork, woodcarving, jewelry, painting, sculpture, and more.

Artists represented in the collection include Tony Abeyta, Josef Albers, Milton Avery, Will Barnet, Romare Bearden, Thomas Hart Benton, Carl Borg, Margaret Bourke-White, Alexander Calder, Ching Ho Cheng, Thomas Cole, Willie Cole, Stuart Davis, Willem de Kooning, Richard Diebenkorn, Elsie Driggs, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Eakins, Harry Fonseca, Lee Friedlander, Jeffrey Gibson, Arshile Gorky, Marsden Hartley, Elizabeth Hickox, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, George Inness, Ben Jones, Donald Judd, Fred Kabotie, Michael Lenson, Helen Levitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Longo, Truman Lowe, Whitfield Lovell, Man Ray, Thomas Manley, Knox Martin, Ma-Pe-Wi, Robert Motherwell, Dan Namingha, Alice Neel, Louise Nevelson, Tom Nussbaum, Georgia O'Keeffe, Sarah Miriam Peale, Rembrandt Peale, Charles Willson Peale, Philip Pearlstein, Maurice Prendergast, Oscar Bluemner, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Morgan Russell, John Singer Sargent, George Segal, Ben Shahn, Lorna Simpson, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith, Joseph Stella, Kay WalkingStick, Andy Warhol, Max Weber, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

[18] In 1909, Evans offered to donate 26 oil paintings to the town of Montclair on condition that it provide a fireproof gallery space to house and display them.

Raising funds still proved difficult until another Montclair resident, Florence Rand Lang (1861–1943), agreed to bear most of the expense and her gift of $50,000, much of it for the purchase of the site, transformed the project from a gallery into a museum.

[24][25][d] Needing a dedicated structure to house the collections, museum trustee Michel Le Brun hired Albert R. Ross to design a neoclassical building.

[33] On the circular lawn in front of the museum's entrance, the founders placed a bronze sculpture by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, The Sun Vow, another gift from Evans.

Evans' donation of American art included 2 sculptures and 54 paintings, among them works by George Inness, Ralph Albert Blakelock, and Childe Hassam.

Lang donated a collection of Native American art amassed by her mother, Annie Valentine Rand.

The Rand Collection's several hundred objects included baskets, clothing, jewelry, and household items.

[39] The most recent renovation by architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle in 2000-2001 added a new wing that doubled the museum's square footage.

[40] To mark its 75th anniversary, MAM published Three Hundred Years of American Painting: The Montclair Art Museum Collection.

Collaborations with numerous cultural and community partners bring artists, performers, and scholars to the museum on a regular basis.