The collection at the Swope has a wide range of American art from a multitude of eras and art movements. The major strength of the collection is American Scene Painting of the 1930s and 1940s, with work by artists such as Thomas Hart Benton, Charles Burchfield, John Steuart Curry, Edward Hopper, Reginald Marsh, and Grant Wood.​

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19th-century American art movements are represented through works by artists as diverse in style as William Merritt Chase, George Inness, Frederick MacMonnies, Mary Fairchild MacMonnies, and Tompkins Harrison Matteson.​ 20th-century American art includes work by George Bellows, Arthur B. Davies, Manierre Dawson, Jack Levine, George Luks, and Fairfield Porter.​ Post-World War II and more contemporary artists in the collection include Mark di Suvero, Robert Indiana, Paul Jenkins, Robert Motherwell, and Andy Warhol.

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The Swope collection also has great depth in historic Indiana art, including work by Hoosier Group artists J. Ottis Adams, William Forsyth, Otto Stark, and Theodore C. Steele; Brown County, Indiana Impressionists such as C. Curry Bohm, Carl C. Graf, and Genevieve Goth Grath; and Terre Haute natives John Rogers Cox, James Farrington Gookins, Janet Scudder, Caroline Peddle Ball, and Gilbert Wilson.​