Registered in the State of New York,[2] the arts foundation was formed to administer the Bellosguardo property according to the provisions in the will of Huguette Clark, who died in 2011 at age 104.

Well known in her youth as an heiress, and again in her later years for being a recluse, she was an artist, art collector, and philanthropist, the youngest child of Senator William A. Clark.

[3] The story of Bellosguardo and the Clarks figures prominently in the bestselling nonfiction book Empty Mansions, which is being developed into a television series by HBO.

[6] The foundation is awaiting action by the city of Santa Barbara on an application to change the use of the property, to allow for a broader program of public tours.

After the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake damaged the home, his widow, Anna Clark, Huguette's mother, had a new 22,000-square-foot mansion built in a French style, designed by Reginald Davis Johnson, completed in 1933.

[17] Huguette also was instrumental in cleaning up the 42-acre saltwater marsh across East Cabrillo Boulevard from Bellosguardo, now a lake known as the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge.

The nonprofit foundation, which was formed after a contest over the will with the help of the New York Attorney General's Charitable Division Bureau, determined to open the property for public tours and arts events.

It was 2018, seven years after Clark died, before her Bellosguardo property was transferred to the foundation, after settlement of the dispute over her will as well as negotiations with the Internal Revenue Service about gift taxes due.