This year has marked a global celebration of Robert Rauschenberg's centennial, with major exhibitions spanning from Munich to Hong Kong honoring the late American artist (1925-2008). Art critic Robert Hughes once described Rauschenberg as "the most important American artist of the last century" in 2006, and despite his worldwide influence, Florida remained his creative center of gravity for four decades. The Sunshine State provided both materials and collaborators that fueled many of his artistic breakthroughs, from his innovative experiments with cardboard and scrap metal to the ambitious Rauschenberg Overseas Cultural Interchange (ROCI), a seven-year program that used art as cultural diplomacy during the final years of the Cold War.
As Miami Art Week once again brings the international art world to Florida, Rauschenberg's presence in the state continues to evolve in significant ways. Beyond his works being featured at Gladstone Gallery and Thaddaeus Ropac during Art Basel Miami Beach, two major projects are marking this centennial moment. The exhibition "Robert Rauschenberg: Real Time" at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale runs until April 26, 2026, representing one of the artist's final centennial exhibitions. Additionally, the book "Out of the Real World: Robert Rauschenberg at USF Graphicstudio" will be published later this month, highlighting his extensive collaboration with the Tampa-based print workshop.
However, a significant development has cast a shadow over this year-long celebration. The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation announced this past summer that it would end its prestigious artist residency program on Captiva Island and sell Rauschenberg's former home and studio there. This decision, coming amid the centennial festivities, provides an opportunity to examine how Rauschenberg's Florida years fundamentally shaped both his artistic ambitions and his major accomplishments.
Rauschenberg's journey to Florida began as an escape from the pressures of New York City. Born in Port Arthur, Texas, he had led an nomadic early life, initially pursuing pharmacology at the University of Texas at Austin before serving in the US Navy Hospital Corps in San Diego. He then pivoted to art, studying at the Kansas City Art Institute, the Académie Julian in Paris, and Black Mountain College in North Carolina, where he met future collaborators including composer John Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham.
After moving to New York in 1949 to study at the Art Students League, Rauschenberg spent nearly two decades in Manhattan, building relationships with influential artists including Cy Twombly, Susan Weil (his wife from 1950-52), and Jasper Johns, who was also his romantic partner for a time. However, by autumn 1960, frustrated with his lack of progress on his Dante drawings, Rauschenberg sought creative isolation on Treasure Island, off Florida's west coast. By 1968, he had purchased property on Captiva, a barrier island further south, and by 1970, he had relocated there permanently while maintaining his Manhattan studio. He eventually became Captiva's largest private landowner.
Rauschenberg's move to Florida reflected a broader post-war trend of artists seeking distance from New York City's intense art scene. Agnes Martin left for New Mexico in 1967, Ellsworth Kelly settled in Spencertown, New York, in 1970, Johns established a base on the Caribbean island of St. Martin in 1972, and Brice Marden developed a summer studio on the Greek island of Hydra in the early 1970s. For Rauschenberg, however, Captiva became more than just a retreat – it served as both his studio and his artistic subject matter.
Describing the island as holding "a magic that was unexplainable in its power," Rauschenberg wrote to Orlando Sentinel critic Philip Bishop: "I have thanked my instinct every day I am here and when I can't be, Captiva is the foundation of my life and my work." Courtney J. Martin, the executive director of the Rauschenberg Foundation, tells The Art Newspaper that "Florida served not only as his home but also as a catalyst for artistic innovation that continues to resonate globally."
The materials that defined Rauschenberg's Captiva years demonstrate the scope of his innovation during this period. His work ranged from pieces created on fabric (many currently on view at the Menil Collection in Houston until March 1, 2026) to his scrap-metal Glut sculptures, which Thaddaeus Ropac introduced to French audiences through an exhibition at the gallery's Paris space this autumn. The Glut series, including works like "No Wake Glut" (1986), utilized discarded materials such as old signs and car parts, transforming industrial waste into compelling sculptural forms.
According to Bonnie Clearwater, director and chief curator of NSU Art Museum, and curator Ariella Wolens, who organized the current Rauschenberg exhibition, "Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Rauschenberg's works from his first decade in Captiva is their beauty." They note that "even when using the lowliest of materials, such as the cardboard boxes that formed his first series of new work begun in Captiva in 1971, he distilled their alluring beauty and elevated their position as art."
Graphicstudio emerged as a crucial creative partner during this era. Mark Fredricks, editor of "Out of the Real World" and a researcher at the printshop, explains that the collaboration occurred over two main phases: 1972-74 and 1983-87, proving remarkably prolific. The first two years alone produced 22 mixed-media prints and five sculptural editions. Among these works, currently on display at NSU Art Museum, is "Switchboard (Airport Suite)" (1974), which became Graphicstudio's first project primarily realized off-site, partly accomplished by shipping an etching press to Rauschenberg on Captiva. The title reflects the artist's constantly traveling schedule, and the editions, created entirely on fabric supports, were actually signed in a Tampa airport hotel room. Clearwater and Wolens describe these works as "gossamer-like, fluttering in an unchoreographed dance stirred by the viewer's own movement."
"Out of the Real World" also emphasizes the extensive collaboration between Rauschenberg and Graphicstudio's founder, Donald Saff, who first met the artist in Greenwich Village during the 1960s. Beyond his role in creating editions, Saff served as artistic director of ROCI (named after Rauschenberg's pet turtle, Rocky), an initiative largely funded by the artist himself that combined cultural diplomacy, educational workshops, and a traveling exhibition.
ROCI toured ten countries that Rauschenberg identified as politically "sensitive," ranging from East Germany to Venezuela. At each stop, he created new, site-responsive works alongside pieces shown at previous venues. As Saff explained in 1991, "ROCI is, in effect, Rauschenberg's way of acting personally on behalf of concepts as global and daunting as peace and understanding." Serving as a key liaison, Saff brought together local artists, writers, and poets to create catalogues tailored to each location, effectively bringing the world into dialogue with Rauschenberg's Florida studio while spreading Captiva's experimental ethos across the globe.
Rauschenberg's collaboration-rich Florida years fundamentally reshaped how later generations of artists approached materials, site-specific work, and community engagement. In 2012, the Rauschenberg Foundation converted most of the Captiva estate into an artist residency program, and more than 500 artists of various disciplines have since participated, including Kevin Beasley, Douglas Coupland, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Senga Nengudi, and Jennie C. Jones.
Jones, who was a resident in 2014, recalls that "Captiva was different from other residencies in many ways. Bob's legacy was tangible; the place was filled with the gravity of his footprint on the world." During her residency, Jones created a series of works on paper that she describes as "thinking pieces." She explains, "That kind of experimentation can feel vulnerable, but Captiva felt safe. That spirit of doing felt profoundly connected to Bob himself."
However, Jones also remembers the campus as "a magical but fragile environment," and Captiva's environmental vulnerability has become increasingly insurmountable over the past decade. In 2021, Kendall Baldwin of WXY Architecture, who had worked on the campus since 2016, described Captiva to the Santiva Chronicle as "tremendously vulnerable," though he noted that "the foundation is working with climate change, not against climate change." Recent storm damage from Hurricane Ian in 2022 and Hurricane Milton in 2024 has created additional challenges for the estate's maintenance and safety.
The formal announcement to close and sell the 22-acre property came in August 2024, with the foundation's statement citing "recurring storm damage, broader climate risks and rising maintenance costs" as the primary reasons for this difficult decision. Jones reflects on the news: "It's not easy to process the foundation's decision because of the powerful legacy and experience myself and others had there. But climate change is all too real. It's affecting everything—including Captiva."
Despite the closure, Rauschenberg's legacy will continue in new forms. Proceeds from the sale, combined with funds previously designated for the campus's upkeep, will likely be redirected toward more flexible forms of artist support and programming. In this way, even the selling of Rauschenberg's compound will serve to advance the lasting legacy of both the island and the groundbreaking artist who called it home for nearly four decades.
