Las Vegas is Getting a Fine Art Museum Thanks to Elaine Wynn’s Deep Pockets

By Scott Roeben, on November 27 2023
3 min read 6 comments
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We haven’t seen this announced officially yet, but we hear a new fine arts museum has been approved for Symphony Park in downtown Las Vegas.

Las Vegas has a deep and abiding dearth of good art, so this is fantastic news.

From what we understand, the museum is being supported in a big way by Elaine Wynn.

This is not downtown Las Vegas. That’s because The Strip is more attractive than downtown. Yeah, we said it.

There aren’t a lot of details about the museum itself, but the location will be next to The Smith Center.

Elaine Wynn, of course, is the ex-spouse of Steve Wynn, and while he took an awkward tumble from grace due to his harassment shenanigans, Elaine Wynn continues to run the show at Wynn Resorts. She’s the biggest individual shareholder of the company, second only to Vanguard Group for share ownership.

There’s way too much drama in the Wynn saga to include it all here, so we’ll just pass along this gem.

Fun fact: Guess who’s the third biggest shareholder of Wynn Resorts. Fertitta Entertainment. As in Tilman Fertitta, the Golden Nugget guy.

Let’s just say Elaine Wynn did pretty well for herself in her divorce from Steve Wynn.

The pair battled it out for six years in court (it was their second divorce), during which time Elaine Wynn dropped some bombs that later resulted in the Wall Street Journal doing an explosive story about Steve Wynn’s horndog proclivities. Basically, they shared what everyone in Las Vegas already knew but were too cowardly to say out loud because Steve Wynn was the king of Las Vegas and had lots of lawyers and enablers.

Why did Elaine Wynn do what she did? Steve Wynn was trying to control her and wouldn’t let her sell her Wynn stock. Steve Wynn’s ego was what ultimately led to his downfall (in addition to all the chronic lowlife behavior and payoffs to cover it up).

On the bright side, Steve Wynn was the only casino chief who sexually harassed or harasses anyone. Phew. That must be true, because Steve Wynn was the only one brought down by the Me Too movement in Las Vegas. So many perfect gentlemen. Just ask any longtime cocktail server at Cosmo or Resorts World or Aria or Red Rock who the gentlemen aren’t. It’s always the same 3-5 names.

Anyhoo, Elaine Wynn ended up with mounds of cash (many argue she was as responsible for the success of Wynn Resorts as Steve Wynn, which is absurd, but just play along) and has put her wealth to good use through a variety of philanthropic pursuits.

She also likes art a lot.

She made headlines when she purchased Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” triptych, whatever that might be, for $142.4 million.

This A.I. painting of Elaine Wynn doesn’t look like her, but how the hell would you know?

It makes sense, then, that Elaine Wynn would underwrite a fine art museum in Las Vegas.

The great thing about having a wealthy benefactor is you don’t have to worry about revenue all that much. It’s sort of a community service, with any ticket sales being icing on the tax write-off cake.

This, too, is an approximation of Elaine Wynn.

Expect more details to be announced soon, and we can’t wait to fill our eyeholes with art we will never be able to afford to buy unless we marry a casino visionary who harasses massage therapists and flushes his reputation down the tubes overnight.

Las Vegas is never going to not Las Vegas, that’s for damn sure.

Update (12/23/23): Details have emerged about the new museum, confirming our scoop. The “Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the foundation of the philanthropist Elaine P. Wynn have announced an unprecedented partnership to launch a new museum in the city called the Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA).” The museum will cost $150 million and is scheduled to open in 2028.