Founded in 1885 and still the oldest public art museum west of the Mississippi, the Crocker has grown considerably since its origins in E. B. Crocker's Victorian mansion. A dramatic new wing added in 2010 tripled the gallery space, and the collection now spans European Old Masters, 19th-century Californian painting, and a strong programme of contemporary California art.
The Californian collection is the heart of it: oil paintings from the 1850s through 1930s that document the landscape before the freeways and subdivisions arrived, from luminous Sierra Nevada landscapes to the odd and unsettling agricultural paintings of the early 20th century. The Saturday farmers market outside the museum is a good reason to time your visit for the weekend.