Dia Beacon

Dia Beacon, in the Hudson Valley town of Beacon, is one of the most respected spaces for postwar art in the world, and one of the easiest ways to leave New York City for a day. The museum occupies a former Nabisco box-printing factory beside the river, and its enormous skylit galleries suit the scale of the work shown inside: monumental sculpture and installation by artists of the 1960s onward. It opened in 2003 and presents the collection of the Dia Art Foundation, with long-term installations by Richard Serra, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Louise Bourgeois, Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol, among others. Rather than a chronological survey, each artist or group of works gets a room, a long span of time and natural light.

The pleasure of Dia Beacon is mostly in the space itself. Natural light enters through the sawtooth skylights, and the old factory floors give works room to breathe. Serra's Torqued Ellipses, a series of huge steel forms you can walk inside, are the signature experience: curved walls lean and loom as you move, so that the sensation of walking changes.

Judd's boxes and Flavin's fluorescent light installations reward patience, with colors shifting as you walk the room. Warhol's Shadows, a long run of canvases, and Richter's grey paintings add contrast. Many works are meant to be experienced slowly, and the gallery attendants are used to visitors who sit down and simply stay.

There are also outdoor works and a garden on the grounds, including a long-term installation by the artist Michael Heizer in the building's lower level that visitors often pass without noticing. A café serves light lunches, and the museum shop is thoughtful. The museum is smaller than the major city institutions but demands more attention; one visit rarely exhausts it. Because the displays are largely permanent, you can plan the day knowing what you will see, with temporary shows tucked into dedicated galleries.

In autumn the Hudson Valley is at its best, and a weekend here combines naturally with a stay in the valley. The museum is closed on a few days each week, so confirm hours and book ahead. It is a rewarding counterpart to the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art for anyone who wants to see this kind of art in the setting it was made for.

A couple of tips make the day easier. Check the train times in advance and aim for an early departure, which gives you the galleries at their quietest and leaves time for the town afterward. Bring a layer, as the large galleries can be cool, and give yourself permission to see fewer works for longer. Spending twenty minutes in one room, rather than glancing at all of them, is the way this kind of art is meant to be seen.