Created by pioneering artist and Bard College professor Harvey Fite in 1978, Opus 40 is a world-famous nonprofit sculpture park and museum with more than 60 acres of meadows, forested paths and bluestone quarries — including 6.5 acres of earthwork sculpture — in the heart of the Hudson Valley in Saugerties, NY.
Opus 40 welcomes guests four days a week from May through November and is available for educational field trips, guided tours and weddings all year long; the site also plays host to nature walks led by Audubon educators, art workshops, and live music and theatrical performances — all with the majestic Catskill Mountains as the backdrop.
Fusing the legacy of local quarrying and ancient Mayan and Aztec stonework learned through his international travels, Fite hand-sculpted Opus 40 over nearly four decades, entirely from bluestone harvested on-site. He framed his stonework sculpture with the surrounding woods, grasslands, and mountains, ensuring the local environment would always be central to the impact of this Natural Historic Registered site.
Indeed, Opus 40 can be seen equally as a sculptural tour de force, a showcase of natural beauty, an exploration of local history, and a premiere outdoor performance space, with Rolling Stone describing it as the best outdoor performance venue in the Northeast.
It is this kaleidoscopic lens that makes Opus 40 so remarkable — abandoned quarries are living artwork, quarry tools are reassembled into sculpture in the Quarryman’s Museum, and actors and musicians perform in, on, around and through the park, adapting their performance to the terrain, views, and acoustics of the site.
Opus 40’s gift shop is now online at opus40.org/shop and features Opus 40 merchandise and a seasonal selection of gift packages featuring Hudson Valley-made goods from the likes of Fox Farm Apiary, Peachtree, Woodstock Chimes, Roots & Resin, and more.
All items are available while supplies last. Place your order online and Opus40 will ship to your address, or reserve your purchase for pickup at the brick-and-mortar location in Saugerties. All funds go to support the Opus 40 nonprofit sculpture park and museum.
