The Ulrich Museum of Art, which opened in 1975 as part of the McKnight Art Center, is recognized by Joan Miró's landmark glass and marble mosaic, Personnages Oiseaux (Bird People), on the south facade. The museum's galleries show exhibits from the University's collection which features contemporary art, plus traveling exhibits.

The museum is named for Edwin A. Ulrich, a Hyde Park, N.Y., businessman who donated his collection of more than 300 works by Frederick Judd Waugh and established an endowment to support the museum. The Ulrich is also internationally known for its Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection, named one of the Top 10 campus art collections by Public Art Review magazine.

Conservation of museum's signature Miró mural is the number one priority for the Ulrich Museum collection. A restoration project was launched on September 27, 2011, was preceded by a two-and-a-half-year exhaustive research study of the mural and a pilot treatment of three panels. The re-installation of the mosaic on the Ulrich Museum facade took place in 2016.