Founded by Mitch and Emily Rales, the museum houses their extraordinary collection of contemporary art on a 230-acre estate
Washington, D. C., is jam-packed with museums, but the must-see art collection in the region right now is 20 miles from the Mall, in Potomac, Maryland: Glenstone, where ultra-modern galleries and giant sculptures by the likes of Jeff Koons and Richard Serra play peekaboo with their surroundings.
Mitch and Emily Rales built Glenstone on a 230-acre site to share their extraordinary collection of modern and contemporary art. But they wanted to make this a different kind of museum – a blend of art, architecture and nature. „The landscape is meant to loosen you up and let your mind start to wander,“ said Mitch.
„It’s not just about the objects that you see; it’s truly an experience,“ added Emily.
Their collection includes some 1,300 works, starting with mid-century greats like Louise Bourgeois, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol, and moving on to later works by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat.
It all began in 1998, when tech billionaire Mitch Rales, who is now 62, had a near-death experience: „I was in a pretty traumatic accident in Russia. Everything I had possession-wise blew up in the helicopter.
