Art lovers, you’re in luck! At Rushmore Estate, you are near two prominent, immensely popular art showcases: the Storm King Art Center in New Windsor and Dia Beacon in Beacon. The Hudson Valley is steeped in the arts with a constellation of galleries and a tradition that dates to the 1800s, when the region’s magnificent scenery inspired the art movement known as the Hudson River School.
Even in this setting, Storm King and Dia Beacon are giants both in size and in stature.
Storm King Art Center
1 Museum Road
New Windsor, N.Y.
(845) 534-3115
www.stormking.org
The 3.5-mile loop trail winds guests among enormous sculptures and site-specific artworks sprawled over 500 acres of hills, meadows and forests. Open since 1960, Storm King supports artists and some of their most ambitious works. It’s constantly changing – the exhibitions, programming, even the seasons – so every visit brings new discoveries. Extremely popular in pleasant weather, Storm King offers unique charms in the winter, when the artworks boldly stand out against white or muted palettes.
Dia Beacon
3 Beekman St.
Beacon, N.Y.
(845) 440-0100
https://www.diaart.org.
One of 12 sites in the Dia Art Foundation network, Dia Beacon brought new life to a 1929 former factory where Nabisco once painted its boxes for its cookies and other treats. The 300,000-square-foot building – that’s almost seven acres – is perfect art space, maximizing broad spans among support columns and more than 34,000 square feet of skylights allowing daylight to pour in. Renowned installation artist Robert Irwin designed the master plan that converted the factory into a 21st-century museum while retaining the building’s original character. Irwin also designed seasonally changing gardens throughout the surrounding landscape. After opening as Dia Beacon in May 2003, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum has helped transform Beacon into an arts destination.