Guggenheim gallery FREE til its May 11th close @ Venetian

See it now, free, before it closes ---

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Museum pulls plug on Vegas, where money trumps Monet

By PAUL LIEBERMAN, Los Angeles Times

April 19, 2008

LAS VEGAS - Dustin and Lindsay Phillips had no idea they were part of the beginning of the end of the Guggenheim%26#39;s great Las Vegas adventure, a seven-year gamble that is coming to a close with the museum taking its chips -- its paintings -- back home.

The Nashville couple hadn%26#39;t even known there was a Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in the Venetian.

';It%26#39;s awesome to see the real thing,'; Dustin, 26, said, as he stood before a Monet landscape painted in 1908 in the real Venice, with the real canals. ';I was surprised they didn%26#39;t charge admission,'; said his wife.

She had to be told the reason: The Guggenheim and Venetian had just announced the museum -- actually four linked galleries -- was coming to an end, and as a thank you to the public the $15 fee was being waived through the last day, May 11.

The closing will leave only the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art as a reminder of all the ballyhoo over how the Las Vegas Strip was going to attract families and cultural tourists along with the gamblers, before ';What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas'; proved a better sell.

';When I first came, [Las Vegas] was being pitched as a family destination. Now it%26#39;s not. We%26#39;re back to colorful night life,'; said Elizabeth Herridge, who has headed the Guggenheim Hermitage for five years. ';I think we felt our time was up, quite honestly.';

Herridge pointed out that while fantasies of earning a fortune did not ';turn out to be reality, unfortunately,'; the small exhibit space had drawn crowds that would make most American museums envious -- 1.1 million paying customers over 6 1/2 years, plus 20,000 students admitted for free.

';We broke even and even made money sometimes,'; Herridge said, adding that attendance had dropped the past two years. ';Seven years is dog years in Las Vegas,'; the museum director added. ';All good things come to an end.';

';It will be missed,'; said Libby Lumpkin, who was the original curator of the Bellagio Gallery and now heads the Las Vegas Art Museum. ';In another city, that operation would have been considered a major success. It%26#39;s just that in Las Vegas the value of square footage on the Strip is so high and can yield enormous profits.';

Guggenheim gallery FREE til its May 11th close @ Venetian

It would be a great opportunity to see the treasures at the Guggenhiem. We have visited several times paying the full price since the ehibits change we never minded the cost.

Thanks for posting this. I hope some folks will take advantage of the chance to see the art free of charge.

I am sorry to see this small museum go.

Guggenheim gallery FREE til its May 11th close @ Venetian

I%26#39;ll definitely check it out this week. I%26#39;ve been happy to pay a couple of times in the past. Sad it%26#39;s going but that%26#39;s Vegas I guess and as the lady said, seven years is a good run.

.check and see if any docents will still be volunteering until the close - usually late afternoon, times may vary.

This is sad news -at least for me. I enjoyed some of the exhibits while in Vegas even though I live right ';next door'; to NYC. It was a nice break during my stays in Vegas. I especially loved The Art Of The Motorcycle exhibit years ago. I am going to miss it.

That%26#39;s sad to see it go. I%26#39;m going to miss out by one day on getting to see the gallery before it closes. Rats!

I wonder what they%26#39;ll do with that space.

that is sad...really enjoyed it.

Old Man ADELSON will do whatever it takes to sucker people into the Venetian Casino.

Times are tough.