The Glass Ceiling

Learn about the monumental blown glass sculpture Chihuly created for a Las Vegas hotel

Dale Chihuly, Fiori di Como, 1998. Bellagio hotel, Las Vegas. Photo: Paul Maguire/Alamy.

How does Chihuly play with form in this installation?

Throughout Dale Chihuly’s long career, the artist has made objects out of blown glass, ranging from small tabletop vessels to monumental installations. In the late 1990s, hotel owner Steve Wynn asked the artist to create a site-specific installation in the lobby of his Las Vegas hotel the Bellagio. In 1998, Chihuly oversaw a team as they suspended his Fiori di Como from the hotel’s ceiling, treating guests to an explosion of color, light, and shimmering glass. Fiori di Como means “Flowers of Como” in Italian, and the work is a representation of Italian flowers in the spring. With approximately 20,000 visitors each day, the iconic work draws a crowd.


•The installation weighs approximately 40,000 pounds.

•To complete the work, Chihuly and his team attached 2,000 glass blossoms to a 10,000-pound steel frame.

•The flowers are all a similar organic disc-like shape, but the scale and colors vary.

•A small black circle marks the center of each flower, creating a subtle sense of rhythm.

•Chihuly invites viewers to look up to see the suspended work (and many lie on the floor to do so!).

•The artist incorporates both color and pattern into the glass sculptures, emphasizing their individual forms.

•The juxtaposition of contrasting colors helps each flower stand out.

•The installation’s intense color also contrasts with the hotel lobby’s neutral architectural features.

•Lights suspended above the sculpture illuminate the partially translucent colored glass and add depth.

•Where the flowers overlap, the colors mix to form new hues.


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