Collectors Jill and Peter Kraus have spent more than two decades transforming their nearly 400-acre property in Dutchess County, New York, into a landscape shaped by contemporary art. A November 10, 2026, ARTnews feature details how the couple has commissioned 18 outdoor sculptures designed specifically for the property, inviting artists to respond to its rolling hills, woodlands, seasonal changes, and architectural surroundings rather than simply installing existing works.

The collection represents an approach to private patronage in which artists become collaborators in the development of the land itself. Although the individual installations vary widely in appearance, material, and scale, they share a defining characteristic: their relationship to the specific places where they stand. According to ARTnews, the sculptures are positioned so that visitors looking at one outdoor installation cannot see the others, allowing each work to establish a separate encounter with the landscape.

The Krauses began collecting art in 1980, shortly after their marriage. Their first acquisition was a print by Belgian artist Pierre Alechinsky, purchased as a birthday present for Jill. For years, they concentrated on works on paper, partly because their New York City apartment offered limited space for the sculpture they admired. Eventually, the couple began considering a country property where they could commission larger works rather than accommodate sculpture within an urban residence.

In 2001, they discovered land in Dutchess County that had previously belonged to actor James Cagney, who had used the property to graze cattle. Its expansive views and gently rolling terrain made it particularly attractive for the kind of artistic experimentation they envisioned. Instead of treating the landscape as a decorative backdrop for an existing collection, they began developing a program that would make the terrain central to the creation of new artworks.

The process starts with observation. Artists invited to participate are expected to visit the property at least twice, once when the trees have leaves and again when their branches are bare. This requirement exposes them to substantially different views, lighting conditions, and relationships between vegetation and open space. The artists are then encouraged to explore the property and identify locations that could become the basis for new commissions.

Jill Kraus brings formal artistic training to the collaborations, having earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees in art and worked as a design director for approximately two decades. The couple does not rely on an art adviser to manage the commissions. Instead, they work directly with artists and arrange engineering or fabrication assistance when projects require specialized expertise.

One prominent example is Sol LeWitt’s Dome Structure (Four Domes and A Sphere), a concrete installation that incorporates spherical geometry. The work rests on a substantial foundation designed to stabilize it on the hillside. The Krauses commissioned the sculpture before LeWitt’s death in 2007, and its exposure to the elements has become part of its continuing history, including the development of cracks over time.

Sabine Hornig’s Entrance With Floating Stairs II, completed in 2010, demonstrates how placement can influence the experience of an artwork. Located on a hilltop, the concrete installation changes visually as a viewer approaches it. Its apparent form and visibility shift with the surrounding terrain, creating an encounter that depends on movement through the landscape rather than observation from one fixed position.

Another major commission is Tatiana Trouvé’s Between sky and earth, which began as a project in 2012 and has continued to evolve. The installation imagines the possessions of a fictional hermit living in a wooded setting. Objects resembling furniture, luggage, shoes, books, and other belongings are rendered in durable materials including bronze, copper, and concrete. Their arrangement creates the impression of an inhabited environment rather than a conventional collection of discrete sculptures.

Nature remains an active influence on Trouvé’s installation. Moss has grown over some elements, while other objects have required repositioning because their weight proved unsuitable for the branches supporting them. The continuing adjustments raise practical and artistic questions about preservation, environmental change, and the degree to which vegetation should be allowed to transform an artwork.

Matthew Monahan’s Second Nature, completed in 2023, illustrates the extended timelines involved in the Krauses’ commissions. The project took approximately 14 years from its early development to realization, including several years during which the collectors encouraged Monahan to undertake the assignment. Its final configuration includes a wall approximately 50 feet long and a fragmented figurative sculpture, with stones from the property incorporated into the structure.

The work’s relationship to the slope is particularly significant. As visitors move around the sculpture, its scale changes in relation to their position. From one angle, the viewer encounters the figures at a relatively direct level; from another, they appear elevated above the surrounding ground. The result depends on the physical experience of walking around the installation.

The property’s wooded areas contain other experiments in landscape-based art. Jon Piasecki’s Stone River, completed in 2009, incorporates a stone pathway organized according to the Fibonacci sequence and connected to remnants of an older agricultural wall. Piasecki worked on the project over three years, using traditional hand tools to shape and position stones.

Additional installations include a mirrored labyrinth by Jeppe Hein that reflects the surrounding forest, a sculpture by José Dávila resembling sections of a blue shipping container, and works by Katja Strunz and Monika Sosnowska that reinterpret organic forms and architectural structures. Sculptures by Roxy Paine and Franz West further expand the range of artistic approaches represented on the grounds.

Not all of the works are permanent objects intended to be viewed in daylight. Several commissions use moving images and projections, extending the experience of the property into the evening. Tony Oursler’s three-channel installation +/-, completed in 2023, projects imagery onto different tree lines while exploring aspects of the Hudson River Valley’s history, including technology, industry, and regional institutions.

Doug Aitken’s Lighthouse, completed in 2012, uses the exterior of the Krauses’ modernist residence as its projection surface. Aitken recorded the landscape across multiple seasons and then developed a work that projects those images onto the building. The changing footage creates a visual relationship between architecture and environment, making the house appear to merge with the landscape after dark.

The residence itself contains a substantial collection of contemporary art. Works by Tacita Dean, Rachel Harrison, Raymond Saunders, Richard Tuttle, Rudolf Stingel, and Franz Ackermann are among those displayed indoors. Mel Bochner’s To Count: Intransitive incorporates numerical sequences across 10 windows, allowing sunlight to project the work’s patterns into the interior.

Elsewhere on the estate, an Art Barn provides exhibition space for a rotating selection of works. Artists represented in a recent display included Meriem Bennani, Alvaro Barrington, Lauren Halsey, and Helen Marten. Video installations by Ericka Beckman and Alex Da Corte also demonstrate the couple’s interest in moving-image art and exhibition environments that extend beyond conventional gallery presentation.

The scale of the collection creates significant logistical demands. According to ARTnews, a complete tour of the outdoor commissions and Art Barn requires approximately six hours, including time after sunset to experience the video installations. The need to accommodate changes in daylight, weather, vegetation, and the physical condition of artworks distinguishes the property from a typical indoor collection.

The Krauses’ commitment to commissioning art extends beyond their private estate. On September 10, 2025, the University of California San Diego announced that gifts from the Krauses and philanthropist Irwin Jacobs would provide a combined $1 million for the Stuart Collection’s Emerging Artists Program. Each donor contributed $500,000 to support new works by developing international artists.

Established in 1981, the Stuart Collection brings permanent contemporary artworks to the UC San Diego campus. Its Emerging Artists Program, created in 2022, supports commissions by artists earlier in their careers. The university described Jill Kraus as a member of the collection’s International Advisory Board and noted her previous leadership of New York’s Public Art Fund. Peter Kraus serves as chair of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s board.

That institutional involvement connects the couple’s private commissioning practices with a broader model of cultural support. Their Dutchess County property is a private collection, not a public sculpture park with an announced visitor program, but the same interest in artist-led projects is evident in their support for university commissions that can reach larger audiences.

The long-term nature of the enterprise also distinguishes it from art collecting centered primarily on acquisitions and resale. Projects may require years of discussion, site selection, construction, and modification. The collectors must address structural engineering, environmental exposure, conservation, and the evolving intentions of participating artists. These practical considerations can become inseparable from the artistic result.

According to ARTnews, the Krauses are currently in the early stages of developing additional ideas with artists Max Hooper Schneider and Meriem Bennani. No completion dates were specified. The ongoing discussions suggest that the property remains an active commissioning environment rather than a finished collection, with future projects expected to respond to the distinctive physical characteristics that have shaped its development.