Last year, visitors in Las Vegas could see artwork by Claude Monet, and a traveling exhibit featured creations by Leonardo da Vinci. Anyone currently in the city can wander through an exhibit at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art featuring more than 60 paintings, prints, sculptures and film by Andy Warhol or check out a print exhibition with 50 of National Geographic’s most famous images at the Imagine Exhibitions Gallery in the Venetian.
Any night of the week (except Tuesdays) at the Bellagio, guests can dine amid works by Picasso in the restaurant there that bears the artist’s name. And that’s not even touching on the colorful glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly throughout the Bellagio, the walking art tour at CityCenter, several galleries with photography by Peter Lik and a vast variety of work by local artists in showrooms around the city.
It may not be known for its artistic scene, but fine art can be found in Las Vegas, adding one more interesting dimension to an already intriguing city. “People might not be expecting to see fine art in this destination; ho
wever, we are able to provide it,” said Tarissa Tiberti, executive director at the Bellagio Gallery.
Certainly this fits in with the Bellagio’s theme of the finer things in life — service, dining and art — but exhibit spaces at the Venetian and the Cosmopolitan, pieces throughout CityCenter and a number of local galleries throughout downtown Las Vegas and around town showcase artwork, as well.
Tiberti said visitors to the Bellagio Gallery are people who specifically intend to visit the gallery as well as those who happen across the space and are pleasantly surprised to find it. “We get all kinds of people stopping by,” she said.
If the idea of seeing fine art on display in Las Vegas is a bit jarring — where are the bells and whistles? —it’s time to rethink what the city has to offer. Las Vegas can be a lot of things to a lot of people, and for those who want something a bit more refined to round out a vacation in Sin City, diving into the possibly unexpected fine art scene offers a new way to view this popular destination.