De Maria and his assistants Robert Fosdick and Helen Winkler traveled around California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Texas by truck for over five years before settling on this site for the large installation.

[4] Set in the middle of an empty plateau about 40 miles from the nearest town,[5] the work consists of 400 stainless steel poles arranged in the form of a grid.

[4] Support for maintaining and operating The Lightning Field is provided in part by an endowment established by Ray A. Graham III and Lannan Foundation, which awarded a challenge grant in 1996.

Financial support for the permanent preservation of the undeveloped grasslands surrounding the installation has been provided by Dia's Board of Trustees, the State of New Mexico, De Maria's assistant Helen Winkler Fosdick, and Gucci.

To raise the estimated $400,000 needed to preserve Lightning Field, Larry Gagosian, whose gallery represents De Maria, and Miuccia Prada collaborated to lead the restoration effort.

[8] A photograph of The Lightning Field was used as the cover image for Robert Hughes's 1997 book, American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America.