From Koons’s ‘Tulips’ to a triceratops skull: new hotel-casino brings Wynn Resorts’s art collection to UAE

Saturday, December 13, 2025 5:19 PM
Photo:  Wynn Resorts (courtesy)
  • Melissa Gronlund, The Art Newspaper

The new Wynn Al Marjan Island hotel resort in Ras Al Khaimah, a northern emirate in the UAE, will display part of the Wynn Resorts collection, including works by Marc Quinn, Jeff Koons, and Jaume Plensa.

Set to open in 2027, Wynn Al Marjan Island is a $5.1bn project from the US hotel and casino group Wynn Resorts. The 600,000 sq. m resort will comprise 1,500 rooms, suites and villas as well as a theater, a luxury shopping area, a deep-water marina, an event hosting space, and— most controversially—a casino. Gambling has strictly been illegal in the UAE, but in October 2024 the UAE’s General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority announced a gaming license specifically for Wynn Al Marjan island.