The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens

This elegant museum opened to the public in 1928 as a gift from railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington and features his world-class collection of late-18th and early-19th-century British paintings, sculpture and decorative arts, all displayed within the grandeur of his sprawling mansion. Highlights include Thomas Gainsborough’s “Blue Boy,” Joshua Reynolds’ “Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse,” John Constable’s “View on the Stour near Dedham,” and J.M.W. Turner’s “The Grand Canal.” The collection also contains 18th-century continental European art, sculpture, and spectacular French tapestries and furniture. The American art collections include important works by Frederic Church, John Singleton Copley, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt and Edward Hopper. The institution’s independent research library is among the finest of its kind in the world, containing some 12 million items spanning the 11th to the 21st century. The grounds are also spectacular, with 130 acres of specialized botanical gardens – most notably the Japanese Garden, the Desert Garden, and the Chinese Garden.