The Crocker Art Museum is a downtown Sacramento staple.  Every school age child comes here at least once.

The Crocker family earned their money from the railroad.  They parlayed that money in to many other things ultimately affording the family to build a legacy Sacramentans will be forever grateful for.  The Crocker’s showed interest in art and began collecting personally specifically Asian art and ceramics.  Eventually the beautiful house and the art collection were gifted to the City of Sacramento for the purposes of creating culture in an early Sacramento.

The original house has been enlarged during the Crocker’s time there and recently underwent the building of a world-class architecturally modern wing added in 2010.  I hadn’t visited since this beautiful wing was added and took the summer heat wave as an opportunity to enjoy their art & air conditioning.

Highlights of the exhibits are the house itself, outside large public art installations on the grounds, early California paintings, ceramics, Oceana exhibits, and a broad grouping of Asian art from the Middle East, India, Japan, China, and beyond.

Some would call art like this garbage but I have always been drawn to masses of color put together like this

The precision here is lovely

I remember thinking as a child how beautiful this house was and how wealthy its owners must have been

The Crocker family gifted their house and their art collection so Sacramentans could have a place of culture and we are so grateful they did

Garden Art

One of the lovely sun rooms with collections of ceramics

Flowers are in bloom

Iconic marketing image

Our door art looking over the River

How I feel in the morning sometimes

Alien?

Yikes

Napa must represent in the art of California exhibit

I new immediately this was an impression of our beautiful California Bay Area

Harder than it looks to make art like this friends

Images of the California Country would not be complete without Poppies and Lupines

The Crocker has a pretty extensive Asian Art collection originally started by the Crockers themselves

Images of the California Country would not be complete without Poppies and Lupines

The Crocker has a pretty extensive Asian Art collection originally started by the Crockers themselves

The iconic front staircase

As one who dabbled in ceramics this is not easy to do

Perfection

OK making one, maybe but two exactly alike it impressive

Animal print anyone?

Anyone else see The Beatles here?