{"id":139306,"date":"2025-11-18T06:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/139306\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T06:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T06:15:13","slug":"what-the-divorce-of-glenstones-billionaire-founders-means-for-the-art-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/139306\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Divorce of Glenstone\u2019s Billionaire Founders Means for the Art Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems like another glorious day at Glenstone<\/a>, a private art museum <\/a>established on 360 acres outside Washington, DC<\/a>, by billionaire Mitchell Rales and his wife Emily Wei Rales.<\/p>\n

There is tall grass swaying in full August meadows, the scent of wildflowers in the air, and a blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds. Minimalist stone pavilions rise from the lush landscape, and overlooking it all from a hill is Split-Rocker, a 36-foot-tall flowering sculpture by Jeff Koons<\/a> that incorporates more than 20,000 annual blooms. Visitors, shielding themselves from the sun with white parasols, stroll the gravel paths. Some take a break on a wooden bench overlooking a water lily pond, where Simone Leigh\u2019s bronze figure of a Black woman bends over the water, washing clothes.<\/p>\n

At the entrance, greeters check in guests; the museum is open only four days a week, and while admission is free, reservations are required. Inside the pavilions docents in gray uniforms warn attendees in groups of three to stay away from the edges of Michael Heizer\u2019s Collapse, a 16-foot-deep pit filled with massive steel beams. In the cafeteria waiters serve chickpea wraps and hibiscus lemonade.<\/p>\n

\"MitchellThe Washington Post\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Emily Wei Rales and Mitchell Rales, the co-founders of the Washington, DC-area museum Glenstone, recently announced that they were getting a divorce.<\/p>\n

Yet everything is not as serene as it appears. Clouds of uncertainty have gathered over the museum following an alarming headline in early July: \u201cBillionaire Breakup at Glenstone!\u201d The divorce was \u201ca fait accompli,\u201d Artnet columnist Kenny Schachter announced<\/a>. He fretted about the \u201cunimaginable consequence\u201d this could mean for the Shangri-La the Raleses had created. \u201cWhat will become of the Glenstone\u2019s indeterminate future? The art? The premises?\u201d Schachter asked.<\/p>\n

At stake is an unparalleled art collection of 1,900 works by 290 artists estimated to be worth $2 billion, according to public tax documents. There are heroic paintings by postwar giants Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, and Brice Marden<\/a>; immersive light installations by contemporary stars Alex Da Corte and Jenny Holzer; and a replica of the Marcel Duchamp urinal that set art history on its revolutionary course in 1917. The exquisite premises, where natural beauty meets high-end design, reportedly took $200 million to build and years to cultivate.<\/p>\n

\u201cMitch and Emily Rales have built an extraordinary collection and program in a remarkably short time,\u201d says Glenn Lowry, who recently stepped down as director of the Museum of Modern Art and has known the couple for many years. \u201cGlenstone is a testament to their belief in the art of the second half of the 20th century and their commitment to the art of the 21st century. It is among the \u00adfinest museums built in the last 50 years, and it has the kind of finely calibrated balance between art and nature usually associated with great European museums like the Louisiana outside Copenhagen or the Gulbenkian in Lisbon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Glenstonepicture alliance\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Jeff Koons\u2019s massive Split-Rocker sculpture is one work in the Rales collection of blue chip modern and contemporary art.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey believe in longevity,\u201d says a private art dealer who has known Mitchell Rales for decades. \u201cThey don\u2019t want fashionable art. They want things that are relevant long-term art-\u00adhistorically. That\u2019s the principle of their collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can plan for longevity in your art collection, but marriage is more complicated. When rich people break up, things can get acrimonious, with power struggles over assets and children. When rich collectors break up, art is often another point of contention. After all, divorce is one of the three Ds that propel art to auction\u2014the other two being debt and death.<\/p>\n

The art world is filled with casualties of divorce. Take the Pop and Minimalist works amassed by collectors Ethel and Robert Scull<\/a>, whose divorce battle over assets lasted 11 years, culminating in Sotheby\u2019s auctions in 1986. Or, more recently, when Libbie and David Mugrabi<\/a> reportedly wrestled over a Keith Haring sculpture\u2014literally\u2014amid their 2018 breakup, which splashed across the tabloids for months. And who could forget the greatest contretemps in recent memory, when Sotheby\u2019s sold $922.2 million worth of art as part of the epic divorce<\/a> of New York real estate developer Harry Macklowe and his wife Linda Macklowe.<\/p>\n

Under ordinary circumstances, a divorce like that of the Raleses would see the auction houses fighting for the privilege of selling Glenstone\u2019s art, especially given the recent dearth of masterpieces at auction. So, will Glenstone\u2019s treasures also be sold to the highest bidder?<\/p>\n

\"US-LIFESTYLE-ART-MUSEUM\"SAUL LOEB\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Michael Heizer\u2019s Collapse, a sculpture of 15 steel beams arranged in a 16-foot-hole, is one of the works on display at Glenstone.<\/p>\n

Those who know the couple insist that nothing will change at Glenstone and that the future of the museum is solid, thanks to its massive assets, built strategically since the museum\u2019s inception in 2006. At $2.7 billion, its assets are closer to those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art ($5.4 billion) than to, say, those of the Broad, a private museum in Los Angeles founded by the late billionaire Eli Broad and his wife Edythe, which had $401 million in assets according to the latest tax documents. Mitchell and Emily Rales declined to comment for this article, as did their representatives, but Glenstone\u2019s programming is planned through 2029, according to a person familiar with the museum. \u201cWe are not sitting there counting the minutes till the Rales auction,\u201d an executive of a major auction house says.<\/p>\n

Darren Walker<\/a>, the president of the National Gallery of Art, has been friends with the couple for more than a decade. He says the Raleses have every intention of keeping the museum in perpetuity. They want their divorce to reflect their values, he says. They treat each other respectfully, put their children first, and think about the things they built together and how to continue them. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be the same Glenstone we\u2019ve known and loved,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is the anti\u2013\u00adMacklowe divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n

After their split was announced, the Raleses didn\u2019t issue public statements or become fodder for gossipy news stories. Emily moved quietly from Potomac, Maryland, where the couple lived in a modernist house designed by Charles Gwathmey across from the museum, to Washington, DC. Mitchell remains in Potomac.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be the same Glenstone we\u2019ve known and loved. This is the anti\u2013Macklowe divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most shocking thing about the divorce is how little has visibly changed, people who know the couple say. The Raleses continue running the Glenstone Foundation, where Emily, 49, remains president and Mitchell, 69, chairman and director. The pair recently vacationed together with their two adolescent daughters and were spotted buying an expensive artwork at a big New York gallery.<\/p>\n

Last spring, after the couple\u2019s inner circle learned about their breakup, Mitchell invited friends to an event at MoMA P.S. 1 in New York where Emily was being honored. \u201cHe texted me to say, \u2018I am taking a table. Emily is being honored. Please join us!\u2019 \u201d Walker recalls. \u201cThis is an example of how wealthy people ought to divorce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the split came as a surprise in New York and DC, where the Raleses are well known, if rarely seen in public. \u201cI was shocked,\u201d says the auction executive in Manhattan. \u201cThey seemed like such a good match.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"US-LIFESTYLE-ART-MUSEUM\"SAUL LOEB\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Raleses have shown artists including Glenn Ligon, Barbara Kruger, Kara Walker, Ellsworth Kelly, Cecily Brown, and Simone Leigh at Glenstone.<\/p>\n

Mitchell Rales met Emily Wei, a tall, willowy beauty born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in the early 2000s. Emily, a graduate of Wellesley College, where she majored in art history and Chinese studies, was thoughtful and articulate. Mitchell, whose first marriage ended in divorce in 1999, was a captain of industry and one of the top art collectors of his generation. Although separated in age by two decades, they seemed to be in sync, according to people who know them.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly on, I was like, \u2018Who is this quirky old guy with this beautiful young woman?\u2019\u201d says a member of their tight-knit DC circle. \u201cIt just seemed so odd\u2014like, How does this work? But it did. We don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on behind the scenes, but they did seem very well suited. Her temperament seemed to really balance him out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple settled in the house across from the museum\u2019s original gallery, which opened in 2006 with 9,000 square feet of exhibition space. In 2018 Glenstone unveiled a new compound of minimalist pavilions by architect Thomas Phifer, adding 50,000 square feet of exhibition space built around a central water court. Despite the publicity blitz that followed the expansion, the couple remained socially elusive. \u201cThey had almost zero visibility on the social scene in Washington, because that just wasn\u2019t important to them,\u201d the Washingtonian says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever may be going on in their personal lives has not had any impact on what they do at the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell, who co-owns the Washington Commanders NFL team and was president of the National Gallery of Art from 2019 to 2024, had a more prominent social profile than Emily. He could sometimes be spotted smoking a cigar and mingling with other prominent figures at Fight Night, an annual black tie gala and boxing match that raises money for underserved children. But due to the couple\u2019s relatively low social imprint, their breakup went unnoticed for months.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, they are very private people,\u201d says Allan Schwartzman, a prominent art advisor who has known the couple for years. \u201cThey are serious about what they do. Whatever may be going on in their personal lives has not had any impact on what they do at the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The museum is operated by Glenstone Foundation, a nonprofit corporation with a mission to support public and educational exhibitions of art. The foundation is like one of their children, several people close to them have said. \u201cIn addition to their girls, it\u2019s their greatest shared passion,\u201d says Walker.<\/p>\n

\"US-LIFESTYLE-ART-MUSEUM\"SAUL LOEB\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Art-world insiders don\u2019t think the Rales divorce will change much at Glenstone. \u201cWhatever may be going on in their personal lives has not had any impact on what they do at the museum,\u201d one advisor says.<\/p>\n

In interviews regarding the museum\u2019s expansion in 2018, Mitchell told reporters that the foundation \u201cwill be endowed in perpetuity. It will never have an issue sustaining itself. The operating costs will always be taken care of through the endowment.\u201d The buildings are designed to last 100 years, the longest span possible at the time, he pointed out. The art is owned by the foundation as well, and as such it\u2019s not part of the marital estate that may be potentially sold. Also, given how amicable the divorce has been so far, there may not be a need to liquidate art and other assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not going to sell anything,\u201d the private art dealer says, noting that Mitchell has an estimated net worth of $3.8 billion, according to Forbes. \u201cThis guy makes money in his sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

The wealth comes from Danaher, a global science and technology conglomerate with $81.6 billion in total assets as of 2025. Mitchell and his brother Steve Rales co-founded the company in 1984. Part corporate raider, part \u201cJapanese operations fanatic,\u201d Mitchell has an ability \u201cto take old-line companies and turn them into cash-\u00adgenerating machines,\u201d Forbes wrote in 2000.<\/p>\n

Mitchell began collecting art in 1990, initially advised by Robert Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs partner turned blue chip art dealer in New York. Mnuchin \u201cintroduced him to his taste with those great Abstract Expressionist artworks,\u201d says the private art dealer. \u201cHe bought the greatest de Kooning, literally. He bought a great Rothko. He bought an incredible Twombly. He bought an amazing Brice Marden.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DOUNIAMAG-US-LIFESTYLE-ART-MUSEUM\"SAUL LOEB\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Livro do Tempo I (Book of Time I) by the artist Lygia Pape is part of the top-notch art collection at Glenstone.<\/p>\n

In the early aughts Mitchell bought Francois Pinault\u2019s de Kooning painting January 1st (1956) for a price that rivaled de Kooning\u2019s auction record at the time, the $20.7 million paid for Interchange (1955) in 1989, according to Artnet Price Database. (In 2016 hedge fund manager Ken Griffin paid about $300 million for that work and lent it to the Art Institute of Chicago.) In 2003 Mitchell paid $16.4 million for Mark Rothko\u2019s 1958 canvas No.9 (White and Black on Wine), at Christie\u2019s. It was the highest auction price for the postwar master.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had great courage,\u201d Mnuchin says about his client. \u201cIt was relatively new for him. He learned very fast. He started with much more of a museum mentality. He was interested in important examples by important artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emily expanded her husband\u2019s collecting scope beyond Abstract Expressionism to include more living artists, according to art advisors. One rule they established: An artist needed to have been working for 15 years to help them gauge whether he or she belonged in art history. \u201cEmily fundamentally changed the direction of Mitch\u2019s collecting and what interested him to collect for the museum,\u201d Schwartzman says. \u201cHe was originally a collector of Abstract Expressionist masterworks. She broadened his thinking, and I think the museum\u2019s collection benefited from it in every way.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s hope that a mutual passion for art will help the exes avoid the dangerous currents that have sunk so many relationships post-\u00addivorce. \u201cI know the commitment they made to put Glenstone together. It took love, time, money, and passion,\u201d says a friend from Washington. \u201cI don\u2019t think it will shut down. It would be a great tragedy. They\u2019ve got to find a way for it to persist.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story appears in the November 2025 issue of Town & Country.
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