Glenstone facts for kids
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| Established | 2006 |
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| Location | Potomac, Maryland, United States |
| Type | Art museum |
| Collections | Contemporary art |
| Collection size | 1,300 |
| Visitors | 100,000 (2022) |
| Founder |
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| Architect | Charles Gwathmey (2006 building) and Thomas Phifer (2018 expansion) |
| Public transit access |  Ride On bus: 301 |
Glenstone is a special art museum in Potomac, Maryland. It was started in 2006 by Mitchell Rales and his wife, Emily Wei Rales. The museum shows modern art from artists around the world. It has about 1,300 artworks.
Glenstone is the biggest private modern art museum in the United States. It is known for its beautiful natural setting. The museum is built on a large area of land, about 230-acre (93 ha).
The first building at Glenstone was designed by Charles Gwathmey. Later, the museum grew with more buildings and outdoor art. A big expansion finished in 2018. This included new outdoor sculptures and a new building designed by Thomas Phifer.
Glenstone is free to visit, but you need to get tickets online. In 2022, over 100,000 people visited the museum.
Contents
Discovering Glenstone's History
How Glenstone Began
In 1986, a businessman named Mitchell Rales bought land in Potomac, Maryland. He wanted to build a home there. By 1990, Rales started collecting art for his home. After a serious accident, he decided to start a project to help others. This led to the idea of building a private art museum.
The museum is named Glenstone because of a nearby road called Glen Road. There were also stone quarries in the area. Glenstone opened in 2006. It was about 15 miles (24 km) from Washington, D.C. The first building was made of limestone and had 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) of space.
Growing the Museum
Glenstone had a big expansion that started in 2013 and finished in 2018. This project cost about $219 million. The museum's art space became five times bigger. The property also grew by 130 acres (53 ha). Many changes were made to the landscape around the museum.
When the expansion opened in 2018, Glenstone became the largest private modern art museum in the United States. After this, Glenstone opened to the public with free tickets. In the year after the expansion, almost 100,000 people visited.
Future Plans and Access
After 2018, Glenstone kept buying land nearby. Emily Wei Rales, one of the founders, said they might add one or two smaller buildings for artworks. They also thought about building a special lab to care for the art.
To make it easier for people to visit, Glenstone worked with Montgomery County. They added a bus stop near the museum. Visitors who arrive by public bus can enter without a ticket.
In 2021, Mitchell Rales gave a lot of money to the Glenstone Foundation. This made the museum's value grow to $4.6 billion. This is almost as much as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Exploring the Art Collection
What Art You'll See
Glenstone has about 1,300 artworks. These pieces are from artists who started their careers after World War II. The collection includes paintings, video installations, sound installations, and sculptures. You can see art both inside the buildings and outside in nature.
The museum only collects works by artists who have been showing their art for at least 15 years. Glenstone is a private art museum. It is sometimes compared to other famous private museums like the Frick Collection.
How Art is Displayed
Many of the large rooms at Glenstone show only one or two artworks. There are no long descriptions next to the art. This helps visitors focus on the art itself. Some artworks are always on display, while others change over time. Glenstone also lends its artworks to other public museums.
Glenstone limits how many people can visit each day, usually around 600. Emily Rales said this helps make sure everyone has enough space and time to enjoy the art.
Museum Staff and Rules
The museum has a special program for new university graduates. These staff members are called "Emerging Professionals." They are in the galleries to answer questions about the art. To help everyone enjoy the art, visitors are asked not to use phones or cameras inside the galleries.
In 2018, when the new Pavilions building opened, it showed art by many famous artists. These included Cy Twombly, Robert Gober, Pipilotti Rist, and Charles Ray. Other artists whose work has been shown at Glenstone include Alexander Calder and Mark Rothko.
The Museum's Amazing Architecture
Glenstone is famous for its calm and natural setting. The museum buildings are in the middle of a large, wooded area. Visitors walk a path about one-third mile (0.5 km) long from the parking area to the galleries. The founders wanted to create a peaceful experience. They call this the "slow art" movement.
Buildings at Glenstone
The first Glenstone building opened in 2006. It was designed by American architect Charles Gwathmey. This building is a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) modern limestone structure. It has 9,000 feet (2,700 m) of gallery space.
The 2018 expansion added a huge new building called the Pavilions. It was designed by American architect Thomas Phifer. This building has 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of new gallery space. The Pavilions looks like many separate buildings from far away, but it is one large structure. It is made of special precast concrete blocks.
The Pavilions has eleven galleries. These are connected by glass walkways. The windows are very tall, about 30-foot (9.1 m) high. The galleries use a lot of natural light from skylights and windows. Emily Rales said they wanted "discrete spaces where you could essentially enter into another world."
In 2018, The Wall Street Journal praised Glenstone's architecture. They said it offers a journey with changing views. In 2020, the Pavilions won an award from the American Institute of Architects.
In 2019, Glenstone opened an environmental center. This 7,200-square-foot (670 m2) building teaches visitors about recycling, composting, and planting trees.
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Café
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Pavilions
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Pavilions complex
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Pavilions interior courtyard panorama
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Beautiful Landscapes and Outdoor Art
The Pavilions building is built around a special area called the Water Court. This is an 18,000-square-foot (1,700 m2) water garden. It has thousands of aquatic plants like waterlilies and cattails. The design of the Water Court was inspired by a beautiful reflecting pool in Italy.
A famous art critic, Sebastian Smee, wrote about the Water Court. He said it feels like entering a beautiful, peaceful place. He felt a sense of lightness and freedom there.
The museum's expansion also added 130 acres (53 ha) of land. This area has many woodlands and wildflower meadows. The landscape architect Peter Walker designed these outdoor spaces. They planted about 8,000 new trees and moved 200 large trees. They also turned grassy areas into meadows and fixed streams on the property. Glenstone uses only natural products to care for its landscape.
This outdoor space is home to large art installations. You can see works by artists like Jeff Koons, Félix Gonzalez-Torres, and Richard Serra.
Images for kids
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Founders Emily Wei Rales and Mitchell Rales in 2018
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