Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
on weekdays; noon, 3, or 5pm on weekends) when professional, gallery educa-
tors—not volunteers—lead thought-provoking, involving, free tours. When I was
last there, I was the only one on my tour and it felt like a private tutorial on the
work of Rubens (whose fleshy paintings I had never warmed up to). I could ask
whatever I wanted, and what I had assumed would be a dusty topic turned out to
be as juicy and topical as the cover of the
National Enquirer
. Though the gallery
is not large, these entertaining, scholarly tours add a depth to the experience that
makes it more than worth the admittedly high price of admission.
The
Wynn Collection of Fine Art
55
(in Wynn Las Vegas;
%
702/770-7700;
$
15 adults,
$
6 children 6-12; Sun-Thurs 10am-11pm, Fri-Sat 10am-midnight; AE,
DISC, MC, V)
consists of the core pieces taken from the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art
when owner and inveterate fine art collector Steve Wynn left that property. In
fact, it was his profligate spending on art that hurt stock prices and arguably led
to Wynn losing control of the casinos now under the auspices of MGM
MIRAGE. While none of it is going to be the world-famous stuff you'd see in, say,
the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, or the Louvre—Wynn's rich, but
not that rich—you will view a lot of the big names of Western art, including
Rembrandt, Degas, van Gogh, Picasso, Renoir, Monet, and Matisse. My favorites
would be a colorful triptych of Wynn himself done by no less than Andy Warhol.
And Vermeer's
Woman Seated at the Virginals,
which Wynn snapped up for a cool
$30 million in 2004, the only Vermeer to appear at auction since 1921 and one
of only 32 in the world by that artist. I can't guarantee that all of these masters
will be on view when you come as the exhibition does rotate, but you're likely to
see the Vermeer and the Warhol.
Note:
At press time, there were rumors of the col-
lection's impending demise—be sure to check its status before you head out.
So what's left at the
Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art
55
(in the Bellagio;
%
877/957-9777 or 702/693-7871; www.bgfa.biz;
$
15 adults,
$
12 students and
seniors; daily 9am-9:30pm; AE, DC, MC, V)?
Nothing actually—what Wynn didn't
take with him was sold to pay off the mountain of debt incurred building this
pleasure dome. Instead, the Bellagio formed a partnership with PaperBall, a divi-
sion of New York's Pace Wildenstein Gallery, which curates the museum and runs
the gift shop. It's a symbiotic (parasitic?) relationship—the museum becoming a
showplace for the gallery's celebrated artists, who range from Rothko, Jim Dine,
and Robert Rauschenberg to Picasso and Calder. The gallery then gets the right
to sell their knickknacks next door, while continuing to burnish these artists'
reputations. To their credit, PaperBall has also forged relationships with major
museums and collections around the country to bring in superb works of art by
artists they don't rep (such as a celebrated 2005 Monet show). Whether or not it's
worth the hefty price tag will depend on the exhibition of the moment, but
they've had a run of star-studded retrospectives from a show of Ansel Adams photo-
graphs to one that explored Impressionist landscapes from Corot to Van Gogh.
An audio tour (usually a dull one, unfortunately) is included in the price of
admission. Because the museum is comprised of just a handful of galleries, you
should be able to tour exhibits here in less than an hour.
Note:
The Bellagio gallery
bans strollers, luggage, large bags . . . you name it. Come unencumbered, as they
don't provide a place to check these objects.
As an additional plug for these fine art experiences: I find they act as a cleans-
ing Alka-Seltzer to the greasy, overwrought kitsch of the rest of Vegas. They may
