Haggin Museum
The Haggin Museum, an art and history museum located in Stockton, has been referred to by Sunset magazine as "one of the undersung gems of California."
The impressive brick building has stood in the center of Stockton's lush Victory Park for 80 years, but it's what's on the inside that makes it worth visiting.
On display in the museum's fine art galleries are dozens of paintings by renowned 19th- and early 20th-century American and European artists, including Jean Béraud, Rosa Bonheur, William Bouguereau, Jean-Léon Gérôme, George Inness and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Of particular note are breathtaking panoramas of Yosemite Valley (including one once loaned to the White House) by American painter Albert Bierstadt. The Haggin has the largest museum collection of major Bierstadt works.
How did world-renowned paintings come to be located in Stockton? In 1928, the San Joaquin Pioneer and Historical Society was looking to build a history museum but had been unable to raise enough funds. Stockton native Robert T. McKee offered the group $30,000 on behalf of his wife, Eila Haggin McKee, who had only two requirements: name the museum in honor of her late father, Louis Terah Haggin; and add an art wing to fill with paintings from her father's collection.
Explore Related Categories
