As early as 1926, Goodyear began to donate works from his own collection to the museum. His first gifts were sculptures by Antoine Bourdelle (in 1926), Wilhelm Lehmbruck (in 1927), Frank Dobson (in 1928), and Aristide Maillol (in 1929). In 1939, after returning from New York, where he served as the first president of The Museum of Modern Art, Goodyear donated a suite of drawings by George Bellows, Salvador Dalí, Georg Kolbe, Maillol, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Jules Pascin, Charles Sheeler, and Eugene Speicher. In 1940, he gave his first gift of paintings, including Maurice Stern’s Bali Boy, 1913, and Camille Pissarro’s Peasants in the Field, Eragny, 1890. In 1954, he gifted 49 works, the majority of which were drawings.

Goodyear’s generosity continued unabated until his death in 1964, by which time he had donated nearly 300 artworks to the museum. He also bequeathed many important works, including Giacomo Balla’s Dinamismo di un Cane al Guinzaglio (Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash), 1912; Salvador Dalí’s The Transparent Simulacrum of the Feigned Image, 1938; and Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938. Shortly before his death, the museum established the A. Conger Goodyear Fund for the acquisition of new artwork, greatly enhancing its ability to grow its collection in the years to come.