The major strength of the University of Lethbridge Art Collection is its diversity, housing works that not only represent a wide range of geographic locations, but also the full spectrum of media, artistic movements, genres and approaches.

Due to this variety, the collection is often utilized by leading Canadian art galleries and curators as a resource for a wide range of exhibition programming. An upcoming summer exhibition opening at Calgary's Glenbow Museum, entitled Vistas: Artists on the Canadian Pacific Railway, will feature six works from the U of L Art Collection, by esteemed Canadian artists Frederic Bell-Smith, Forshaw Day, Robert Gagen, Marmaduke Matthews and Lucius O'Brien.

The exhibition focuses on these and 15 other artists who travelled west via the railway in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to capture images of the prairies and the mountains, and how their art production helped shape Canada's emerging national identity.