The Tamesis
According to the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Naples, California, the beloved art park is in chronic financial trouble and its property is listed for $10.9 million. san francisco chronicle Starting last weekend.
The park houses a collection of notable works by postwar Northern California artists, most notably the iconic Mark di Suvero sculptures on the 217-acre estate. Its collection also includes important works by Peter Saul, Robert Arneson, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo and Deborah Butterfield, many of which were purchased by the park’s founder, collector Rene di Rosa, and his wife, Veronica, in 2010. and died in 1991.
Related articles
Since 2019, the center has been working behind the scenes to try to correct its precarious financial situation. That same year, the Di Rosa Museum announced that it would no longer purchase art for its collection and would begin selling art from its holdings. The news was so strongly condemned by local artists and dealers that the center later reversed course on the decision.
In 2025, the center revealed plans to expand to San Francisco. Kate Eilertsen, director and chief curator of the center, said Art Network News At the time, “we were taking steps to develop a viable business plan that would allow us to move away from relying on philanthropy, enrollment and membership and instead find a revenue stream that would keep DiRosa sustainable.”
Eilertson told this week san francisco chronicle Selling a property can bring in much-needed income. The hope, she said, is that “some very wealthy, art-loving philanthropist comes in and says, ‘I’ll buy it, and then I’ll lease it back to you for $5 a year, and you can keep everything here.'”
Another possibility is to sell the estate to Napa County and convert part of the park into hiking trails. The Napa Land Trust and the Open Space District have both expressed interest in “keeping the sculpture there,” she said. “If that happens, we’ll have about two years to figure out how we can make more money and make the lower half of the property more successful as a business.”
this chronicle The park’s collection will not be sold with the estate, the report said.
