It’s the end of an era.
In the run-up to global celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Robert Rauschenberg’s birth, the artist’s foundation intends to sell his property on Captiva Island. It has operated an artist residency there since 2012.
In a letter addressed to friends and community, foundation officers cite a multi-year study concluding that keeping the property will require substantial investment and site modifications. Even then, the more than a dozen aging buildings would be at risk from increasingly larger and more intense tropical cyclones, worsening climate risks and rising maintenance costs.
The foundation states that it may be difficult for many to reconcile its need to be cost conscious with the “deep significance Captiva holds for so many, including the local community.”
The foundation promised to work to maintain the integrity of the compound’s historic Fish House, which was once owned by Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling.
It might be even harder to reconcile the foundation’s decision to sell with Rauschenberg’s history of spending considerable money to protect his slice of paradise from development by South Seas Resort and others. With that in mind, he bought adjacent properties over the decades by promising their owners he’d never develop the land. In fact, he signed a restriction agreement, over the objection of his attorney, that prohibits changes to the Fish House, Bay House and surrounding 3.5 acres without the consent of the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, the Nature Conservancy and the National Audubon Society. It is not known whether this agreement is binding on whoever purchases the property.
The sale will not be immediate. The Rauschenberg Residency will be allowed to conclude its current programs, which expire in August 2026.
Rauschenberg established his residence and art studio in what’s now known as the Beach House in the fall of 1970. He remained on Captiva until his death in 2008. He once wrote, “Captiva is the foundation of my life and my work; it is my source and reserve of my energies.”
Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur, Texas, on October 22, 1925.
He is considered to be the most influential American artist of the last half of the 20th century. He led the transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop and Modern Art movements and pioneered the use of found and recycled material in his paintings, prints, sculpture and performance pieces.
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Since its inception in 2012, more than 500 artists have completed the Rauschenberg Residency program, which has played a vital role in shaping the foundation’s identity and impact.
“We are truly grateful to all who have contributed to the Residency over the years,” states the foundation in its announcement. “It has been a place where ideas were shared, friendships formed, and new work imagined.”
As they shift away from maintaining a physically vulnerable retreat, the foundation affirms its intention to continue supporting artistic creativity, experimentation, and the cross-disciplinary collaborations Rauschenberg championed.
“The spirit of Captiva will remain a lasting part of the Foundation’s story,” said the foundation. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to carrying forward the spirit of creativity and community that Captiva nurtured and will continue to build on Rauschenberg’s ethos of experimentation and reinvention through new forms of artistic support.”
The Rauschenberg compound on Captiva comprises a number of buildings.
Rauschenberg’s first property on Captiva was the Beach House, which he purchased on July 26, 1968, alongside the undeveloped property now called the “Jungle.” The Beach House served as his studio on Captiva until 1990, and his first worktable there was a door propped up on four sawhorses. Rauschenberg purchased the Jungle to prevent its development. It was zoned at the time for the construction of 18 homes.
In 1971, Rauschenberg added to his estate by purchasing two homes from a woman named Anna Lowe. The first, built in 1958, became known as the Print House because that’s where Rauschenberg and well-known printer Robert Peterson set up shop creating their own work as well as prints for visiting artists such as Cy Twombly, David Bradshaw, Robert Whitman and Susan Weil.
Rauschenberg called the second home, a Cracker style residence that dates back to the late 1930s, the Curator House because he and Peterson would take their completed prints there as a staging area for sales and exhibitions.
Rauschenberg acquired the Laike Lane Studio in 1973 and used the ground floor of the 1955 house for fabrication of wood and metal sculptures and frames for his paintings and prints. The upper floor became his administrative offices and additional studio space, where he’d roller skate around large worktables to work on projects in various stages of completion.
The Weeks House, located on four acres extending from the Gulf to Pine Island Sound along the South Seas Resort property line, was added to the estate in 1977. Rauschenberg used it primarily as a guest house until it fell into disrepair.
The Waldo Cottage came next, followed by the Fish House and the Bay House.
Rauschenberg purchased the Fish House, the Bay House and 3.5 acres of land from Joseph Van Vleck, Jr. on Dec. 29, 1978. The property was previously owned by J.N. “Ding” Darling, a well-known political cartoonist and conservationist long before the latter term entered our everyday lexicon. In 1934, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tapped Darling to head the U.S. Biological Survey (the forerunner of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). Two years later, Darling organized and was elected president of the National Wildlife Federation. His quick action to preserve a portion of land on Sanibel led to it being named the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge.
Herself a conservationist,
Mina Edison became Darling’s friend and ardent supporter during this time as well.
Darling purchased the land on Captiva from Clarence Chadwick in the late 1930s and in May of 1942, built his beloved Fish House. The dock was built with a counterbalanced drawbridge that he would pull up behind himself to work uninterrupted at his drawing desk. When he was forced to sell the property, he entrusted its preservation to Van Vleck, who in turn entrusted it to Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg, like Darling, found the Fish House to be a sanctuary, pulling up the drawbridge to be secluded.
The drawbridge no longer exists, but residency artists still use the house as a space for focused work, quiet reflection, and observation of the beautiful natural environment.
After securing permission from the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, the Nature Conservancy and the National Audubon Society, Rauschenberg moved the Bay House to its current location, where, renovated, it now stands on pilings. Rauschenberg used this property as guest and workers' quarters, as well as for storage of materials he used in his sculptures and other three-dimensional artworks.
There was also the Main House, which Rauschenberg built in 1990 and occupied as his primary residence until his death in 2008. Rauschenberg willed this property to his friend and partner Darryl Pottorf, who sold it in 2020 for $4.25 million. Pottorf assisted in the building’s design. Among the home’s many extraordinary features were a Brazilian wood staircase entry, a private elevator and a spiral staircase that leads to a rooftop sun deck.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.