Currently, Dia commissions, supports, and presents site-specific installations and long-term exhibitions of work by these artists, as well as those of younger generations.

Heiner Friedrich was a German art dealer with galleries in Munich and Cologne which showed artists such as Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Donald Judd, and Dan Flavin.

Robert Whitman, a performance artist funded by Dia, stated that Friedrich "wanted to make a Sistine Chapel, create a Shakespeare.

"[3] Friedrich had the vision and art contacts, while Philippa de Menil was heir to the Schlumberger oil fortune and had the money to support the idea.

Friedrich explained the name choice with "'Dia' was chosen as a transitory term for an institution that would not be eternal but would make possible the presence of artworks on an extended, long-term basis"[5] Dia first patronized a group of artists that included Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, La Monte Young, and Marian Zazeela.

This artwork, Untitled (In memory of Urs Graf) by Dan Flavin, was installed in the museum's courtyard and consists of fluorescent tubes in varying colors outlining the space.

This was followed in 1976 by a retrospective of six theater pieces by Robert Whitman[5] In 1977 Friedrich's gallery space was transformed into a permanent exhibition of Walter De Maria's The New York Earth Room and Dia's offices were moved to 107 Franklin Street.

Dia planned the opening of three other works in 1977: Walter De Maria's The Vertical Earth Kilometer in Kassel Germany, and Lightning Field in New Mexico, as well as a permanent, multicolored, light installation by Dan Flavin stretching across three platforms at Grand Central Terminal in New York.

The same year Dia purchased a volcanic crater in Arizona for James Turrell for his Roden Crater project (and later gave him approximately six million dollars to move the project forward).In 1979 the second location of Friedrich's gallery space, 393 West Broadway, was also given over to Walter De Maria for a permanent art installation, The Broken Kilometer.

Russell in Marfa, Texas, renamed it "The Art Museum of the Pecos," and planned to house works for multiple artists Dia funded.

Philippa de Menil summed up how fast Dia did so much with "The reason we accomplished so much in terms of projects is that we just forged ahead and didn't worry about overspending.

Things got so bad financially for Dia in 1983 they were forced to take out a $3.87 million loan from Citibank using de Menil's Schlumberger stock as collateral.

Along with Hawkins, the new board members included Lois de Menil, John C. Evans, future United States Supreme Court justice Stephen Breyer, Margaret Douglas-Hamilton, and Herbert Brownell.

"[5] The night before the new board was set to meet, Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak al-Jerrahi of the Sufi lodge Dia funded, passed away in Istanbul, Turkey.

Philippa de Menil (now Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi) ominously reflected on the passing of her spiritual guide saying, "His death seemed to herald many new changes.

"[5] The new board began slashing at Dia contracts and real estate to get the budget under control with projects being dropped and dismantled at a fast rate.

The space is limited to the works of 25 artists, including Richard Serra's monumental steel sculptures Torqued Ellipses and Michael Heizer's North, East, South, West (1967/2002).

The museum's galleries of paintings by On Kawara, Agnes Martin, Blinky Palermo, and Robert Ryman receive reflected north light from more than 34,000 square feet (3,200 m2) of skylights.

The grounds include an entrance court, and parking lot with a grove of flowering fruit trees and a formal garden, both of which were designed by Irwin.

Among those whose work was commissioned and collected at that time are Joseph Beuys, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Imi Knoebel, Blinky Palermo, Fred Sandback, Cy Twombly, Robert Whitman, and La Monte Young.

In 1979 the Dia Art Foundation acquired Shadows (1978–79), the monumental painting installation by Andy Warhol consisting of 102 canvases, as a single entity from the artist during its inaugural exhibition at the Heiner Friedrich Gallery in New York.

The first of these was made in 1997, when Board Chairman Leonard Riggio and his family gave the Foundation three sculptures from Richard Serra's Torqued Ellipses series (1996–97), sculptures created for an exhibition at Dia Chelsea; it was the first acquisition for Dia's permanent collection in over ten years, a $2 million purchase made by Riggio.

Female artists who have been added to the permanent collection include Mary Corse,[26] Nancy Holt,[27] Dorothea Rockburne,[26] Michelle Stuart[28] and Anne Truitt.

[32] In 1985, Dia Art Foundation for the first time auctioned off 18 works at Sotheby's, including pieces by Cy Twombly and Barnett Newman, for $1.3 million.

[39] Under new director Jessica Morgan's leadership, the Greek shipping magnate George Economou, investor and philanthropist Jeffrey Perelman,[40] and Ra Hee Hong Lee, Irene Panagopoulos, Jane Skinner and James Murdoch joined.