Big sculptures superbly sited

September 20, 2009|Judy Kugel, Globe Correspondent

MOUNTAINVILLE, N.Y. - For sculpture lovers, the Hudson River Valley’s Storm King Art Center is a piece of heaven.

Located 200 miles from Boston, Storm King is a 500-acre outdoor museum. Its “galleries’’ are the lawns, fields, and woodlands nestled between two mountains. Here are displayed more than 100 large-scale sculptures by many of the most famous artists of the past 50 years, including Alexander Calder, David Smith, Henry Moore, and Louise Nevelson.

In 1960, two businessmen purchased a Mountainville mansion for a museum devoted to landscape paintings. Their plan changed with the purchase of 13 large works by Smith. Thus, the Storm King Arts Center turned into a sculpture park.

Each new work is purchased with a specific site in mind. “Storm King Wavefield’’ by Maya Lin (of Vietnam Memorial fame), installed this spring, consists of long rows of undulating hills that cover four acres that were formerly a gravel pit.

Visitors return to Storm King often because it changes with the season, the weather, or the time of day. Seeing the sculptures on the free 30-minute tram ride is a good start, but meandering by foot, coming close to the giant works, is a different experience.

Many believe Storm King to be the most beautiful sculpture park in the world. Visitors should plan to spend several hours.

Storm King Art Center, Old Pleasant Hill Road, Mountainville, N.Y. 845-534-3115. Open April to mid-November, rain or shine, adults $10, children $7. www.stormking.org.