The College Art Collection consists of 376 individual artworks valued at more than $1 million. This includes 260 pieces in the visual art collection, 69 pieces in the William E. Gahlberg Native American Contemporary Art Collection along with 47 Ecuadorian masks and 17 World War II posters in the library collection.

In 2008, College of DuPage was gifted 157 original Polaroid photographs and gelatin silver prints by Andy Warhol valued at $130,150 from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Photographic Legacy Program. The College has acquired numerous artworks since 2007; artists include John Baldessari, Peter Doig, Matthew Girson, Carrie Gundersdorf, Steve Harp, Carol Jackson, Jason Lazarus, Jin Lee, Barbara McDonnell, Buzz Spector, Jim Torok, Amy Park, Danielle Gustafson-Sundell, Stacie Johnson, Kim Piotrowski, Shona Macdonald, Michelle Grabner and Mark Booth.

The College’s first acquisitions were made in 1983 through the Illinois Arts Council Percentage for the Arts Program. This program required 1 percent of new building construction budgets go toward purchasing artworks for new buildings.

The collection is housed in public spaces in the Academic Computing Center, Student Resource Center and Library, Berg Instructional Center, McAninch Arts Center, Physical Education and Community Recreation Center and the Open Campus Center.

A Campus Art Collection catalog (published 1998, 2000) was funded by the College of DuPage Foundation. An updated catalog will soon be published and available to the public for free guided tours.