LOST VEGAS: Wynn’s $28 Million Popeye

Posted on: November 5, 2024, 08:02h. 

Last updated on: November 5, 2024, 09:48h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

In 2009, Jeff Koons, known for his shiny sculptures of balloon dogs and toy trains, started building three 6-foot-5 Popeye statues out of a literal ton of mirror-polished steel. They took two years for the pop artist and his staff to complete.

Pop artist Jeff Koons depicted the spinach-eating sailorman in a vivid spectrum of color. (Image: Wynn Las Vegas)

One went to art gallery titan Larry Gagosian, another to billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen. In 2014, the third was purchased at a Sotheby’s auction by Steve Wynn, who paid $28.2 million.

The casino magnate installed his in the Wynn Las Vegas Esplanade, where it could be seen by all entering and leaving the Wynn Theater.

Twice a year, he reportedly flew in two cleaning specialists from Germany for a daylong detailing, which cost him $15K per person each time, plus travel expenses. And he made sure the statue was guarded by two security officers around the clock. This was probably more to deter vandalism than theft, since making off with a 2,000 lb. statue would have required an awful lot of spinach-eating.

In 2015, according to late Las Vegas blogger Robin Leach, a rival art collector offered Wynn $60 million and he rebuffed the $32 million profit.

Pop Eye

Popeye, an icon of pop culture since his creation in 1929, became an icon of pop art when Andy Warhol began depicting him in paintings.

I became drawn to the Popeye image in a very intuitive way,” Koons said in 2014. “I wanted to have a dialog with art history and with pop art, and also a dialog with technology and to deal with the aspect of acceptance.”

Koons’ art is frequently derided by critics as tacky and derivative of Warhol. But Wynn said he appreciated Popeye’s “playful and whimsical nature.”

Truth be told, Wynn was a big fan of most of what Koons sculpted. And that’s because it was all such a good investment.

In November 2013, the artist’s “Balloon Dog (Orange)” became the most expensive work sold by a living artist when it was auctioned for $58.4 million at Christie’s. That record was only surpassed in May 2019 — by another Koons sculpture — “Rabbit,” which fetched $91 million at Christie’s.

Wynn purchased another Koons, “Tulips,” at auction in 2012 for $33.7 million. He displayed it at the Wynn from 2013 to 2016, before moving it to Wynn Palace in Macau. It was moved back to Las Vegas in October 2019.

Popeye Sails Away

Popeye stood proudly at the Wynn until June 2019, when he was removed from Las Vegas a year after Wynn himself was.

The statue was moved to Encore Boston, whose president stated at the time that Wynn had always intended it to be permanently housed there.

He’s a great connection to the water for us,” Robert DeSalvio said. “What better place for a randy sailor than on a waterfront?”

The world’s most famous sailor man was only stationed in Boston for a year, however. Around the time of COVID, he disappeared. Some employees told curious visitors that he was temporarily in storage but other employees said he was privately sold.

This second story makes more sense to us, since every casino company needed money to weather the pandemic storm, since the statue was so closely identified with Steve, and since Popeye’s disappearance seems permanent now.

“Lost Vegas” is an occasional Casino.org series spotlighting Las Vegas’ forgotten history. Click here to read other entries in the series. Think you know a good Vegas story lost to history? Email corey@casino.org.