American painter and graphic artist, Milton Ernest “Robert” Rauschenberg purchased his first Captiva property in 1968. It was in 1970 he moved from New York City to Captiva permanently, citing here he “felt a magic that was unexplainable in its power.” It was on Captiva the artist thrived...and remained until his death in 2008.

In the years following his relocation to Captiva, a construction boom on Captiva inspired Rauschenberg to purchase adjacent properties, purportedly to save them from encroaching commercial development.

Among those purchased was 3.5 acres of land which included the Fish House, built by political cartoonist/conservationist J.N. “Ding” Darling. Today, all of Robert Rauschenberg’s Captiva properties are managed by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and home to the Rauschenberg Residency, a “creative center that welcomes artists of all disciplines from around the world to live, work, and create.”