The Art World

By Cathy Booth/Las Vegas

Oh, how they laughed when STEVE WYNN brought Picasso and Matisse to his casino in Las Vegas. Was the guy nuts? High art in the high desert? But when Wynn, the chairman of Mirage Resorts Inc., rolls the dice, he usually wins. His tiny two-room gallery at the Bellagio hotel has lured more than 100,000 people since its opening in late October. In the past month, more than 2,000 people a day have been anteing up $10 each to see Wynn's collection of 20 paintings, from Degas to Picasso. Wynn has also made his presence felt as an art dealer. Since the Bellagio opened three months ago, Wynn has sold a number of pieces from the late 20th century: a Jasper Johns, a Lichtenstein, two Warhol pieces and Rauschenberg's The Small Red Painting, which purportedly went to billionaire publisher SI NEWHOUSE. "He has got rid of quite a few 20th century paintings and is starting to go into the Renaissance," says ALAN FELDMAN, Wynn's spokesman. In fact, he has added a Rembrandt, a Rubens and a Renoir. To those surprised by all this commerce, well, it is Vegas. "We're not a museum. We're a gallery," says Feldman. And a pretty high-rolling one at that.

--By Cathy Booth/Las Vegas