The museum has a small but culturally significant collection of art from Southeast Asia, with many Thai pieces acquired from prominent collectors such as Jim Thompson (1906–1967) and Doris Duke (1912–1993), as well as unique Southeast Asian textiles gifted by ornithologist Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee (1901–1984).
This collection features some of the highlights of the museum’s Cambodian, Thai, and Indonesian artworks, including an impressive limestone Avalokiteshvara, a Buddhist deity that embodies the virtue of compassion, which many gallery visitors are drawn to.