The Joyful Combination of Art & Gambling
One may not immediately recognise the joyful combination of art and gambling when touring the world’s most luxurious casinos, but you can be sure that these fantastic and sought after pieces go a long way in creating an atmosphere within a casino. The abundance of fine art can be found across the world of gambling, and curators are hired and paid enormous amounts of money by casino bosses to deck out their venues with the most exquisite pieces. Throughout this article, we’ll explore five casinos across the world that offer patrons an unrivalled art experience, whilst exemplifying the very best of gambling. Before we get into the top five venues for casino artwork, we would like to remind you that you can always check out the best online casinos from your own home, if venturing out to a fancy art gallery isn’t your thing.
The Bellagio in Las Vegas
The Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is a world-famous art gallery in its own right, but just so happens to be situated inside one of the best and most iconic casinos on the planet. When it was launched in 1998, the concept of having an art gallery inside a casino was completely unprecedented, and the calibre of artwork including Monet, Hockney and Picasso really shocked the art purists and gambling business elite alike. But the art gallery is not the only artistic aspect of this casino, the botanical garden known as The Conservatory is another mesmerising component.
If you’re planning on a visit to Las Vegas and looking to escape the plastic materialism of the main strip, the Conservatory at The Bellagio provides a tucked away cornucopia of natural beauty. The sensational experience at the Conservatory is due to its passionate display of nature in the botanical garden, and fantastic attention to detail with the fine art on display. There are many expeditions taking place at The Conservatory, with Picasso art regularly on display, it is worth planning ahead your trip to make sure you can take advantage of this astounding location. Known for bright colours and expert curation, the Conservatory brings a wide array of flora, trees and plants from around the world together in a joyful collaboration with awe-inspiring sculptures, lighting and paintings. This is a must-see if you’re an art lover stopping in Las Vegas!
The Hippodrome Casino in London
Long considered to be a dingy, smoke-filled distasteful location, The Hippodrome Casino at Leicester Square in London has undergone a massive transformation in recent years. Over £50m has been spent revitalising this venue, and the casino art has also been majorly overhauled. The Hippodrome Casino commission the country’s first digital artist-in-residence to revamp the atmosphere inside the casino floor.
The results have been phenomenal, and the Edwardian building has truly been adapted to the 21st century with a 57-panel digital artwork display creating a unique atmosphere that is rarely experienced inside a casino. The piece inside Hippodrome is a melding of that represent the identity of the building from the past and presents. This unique type of public art has caused punters to state, “you don’t need to gamble to enjoy yourself here”, as the Hippodrome lives and breathes art, both internally and externally.
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Palms Casino in Las Vegas
For our next location, we’re back again in Sin City, the casino mecca has many fantastic venues filled with entertainment and various means to gamble, but there are few that offer visitors visual delicacies of such fine curation quality like the Palms Casino does. The organisers of this venue abandoned the idea of a dedicated art space and instead turned the entire venue into an art gallery. There are many priceless pieces of art lining the walls of this casino, with original works from Andy Warhol, Richard Prince and Jean-Michel Basquiat just to name a few.
But the most celebrated artist by far at the Palms Casino is British artist Damien Hurst, his controversial 1999 sculpture, The Unknown, which is basically an arrangement of three giant water tanks each with a section of a dissected shark is proudly mounted above the main bar inside the casino. Much of the art is visible from all corners of the casino, so whether you find yourself at the blackjack table, the roulette wheel, or at the slot machines, you’ll be able to capture this delightful visual sustenance.
Venetian Casino Resort in Macau
Stepping away from the west, we look east towards the coastal city of Macau. This legalised gambling oasis in the heart of Asia is known for its exuberant displays of wealth and glamour, attracting some of the biggest and most notorious Asian gamblers to its casinos. But what of the art deco casino within, and the casino paintings that do so much to enhance the experience of its patrons. The Venetian Casino Resort is without doubt one of the most iconic venues in the city, with a huge array of artwork lining the entire venue.
The architecture of the building alone is enough to leave a lasting impression on visitors to this wonderful location. Moreover, the canals surrounding the venue allow guests to truly feel they are part of a Venetian fairy-tale, making this such a wide-arching experience that transcends the pure buzz of casino entertainment.
Casino de Paris
The French capital of Paris is a centre-piece of the global art world, and has for many is home to some of the world’s most prized and celebrated pieces. The iconic Louvre Museum in the city centre houses the most famous piece of art ever created, The Mona Lisa by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, it is considered an archetypal masterpiece from the Italian renaissance, and in this same spirit, the Casino de Paris has strived to curate similar masterpieces of their own.
The venue is packed full of wonderful sculptures and oil paintings that will leave punters feeling that they have been entertained far beyond the activities of the casino floor. If you’re looking for one of Europe’s most vibrant and aesthetically pleasing casinos, then the Casino de Paris casino wall art will achieve this.
Casinos Employ Various Forms of Art
Casinos are always going to be venues that attempt to inspire higher moral philanthropy through the natural senses. This emotional benevolence materialises in fantastic artwork, blending together elements of entertainment and human artistic brilliance makes the case for land-based gambling even stronger. We can only recommend opening your eyes to the impressive skill of art curation that has gone into the décor on your next visit to one of the casinos we’ve listed here today. And let’s not forget that some of the games at the best roulette casinos and top slots online casinos are almost artworks in themselves.
