Top 200 Collectors

Elaine Wynn married fellow ARTnews Top 200 collector and real estate billionaire Stephen A. Wynn in 1963, but the two have since divorced twice, most recently in 2010. That year, Elaine reportedly received more than $740 million in Wynn stock in the settlement. Elaine Wynn never had a prominent presence in the art world the way her ex-husband did—at least not until 2014. That was the year she paid $142.4 million for Francis Bacon’s 1969 triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud, setting a new record for what was then the highest price ever paid for a work at auction. The Bacon joined other pieces in her collection—including works by Édouard Manet, Joan Mitchell, and Lucian Freud, to name a few—most of which represent her share of the Wynn collection that was divided when the couple divorced. None of the other works rival the importance of the Bacon triptych.

Elaine Wynn currently serves on the board of trustees of the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation and has also chaired the University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV Foundation. She has also served as co-chair of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s board of trustees. She co-founded Mirage Resorts and Wynn Resorts with her former husband. Elaine was also the recipient of the only female-size 2012 Olympic Men’s Basketball Team USA championship ring ever made. The ring, she told Haute Living, is “one of the things that I’m most proud of.” Clearly, Ms. Wynn is a high-profile collector in her own right.