Sol LeWitt's Only Sphere Sits on a New York Estate

Sol LeWitt's only spherical work ever made is on a private estate in New York state. The piece, Dome Structure (Four Domes and A Sphere), stands on the property of collectors Jill and Peter Kraus, according to ARTnews. LeWitt was an American artist who died in 2007.

The Krauses' land covers nearly 400 acres (about 160 hectares) in Dutchess County, in the Hudson Valley north of New York City. It is home to 18 commissioned outdoor sculptures. A commission is a work that an owner pays an artist to create.

For the past two decades, the couple has worked with artists to develop site-specific works. That term means a piece made for one particular place, and it shapes everything about the piece, from its size to its shape to what it looks at.

Jill Kraus says the couple asks commissioned artists to study the natural habitat first, then respond to what they find there. The rules are simple but firm. Artists must visit the property at least twice: once when the leaves are on the trees, and once when they are off. The seasons change how the land looks, and the artists have to see both.

The Krauses also let artists choose their own spot. Artists are invited to drive across the property and pick the place where they want to work.

Another work on the land is Tatiana Trouvé's Between Sky and Earth. The Krauses first commissioned it in 2012.

Few collectors open their land to this kind of long, close relationship with artists. The Krauses' approach asks each artist to spend time in the same fields and woods through more than one season before making a single decision. For anyone curious about how a sculpture ends up where it stands, that process is the story.