Ugo Rondinone: Seven Magic Mountains

Ugo Rondinone, the internationally acclaimed Swiss artist, created Seven Magic Mountains, a monumental art installation located approximately 10 miles south of the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway in Henderson, Nevada. Positioned near Jean Dry Lake in the Ivanpah Valley, the site was deliberately selected for its historical significance, as it had previously hosted important site-specific works by pioneering artists such as Michael Heizer and Jean Tinguely during the 1960s.

Seven Magic Mountains comprises seven towering totemic forms constructed from thirty-three brightly painted, locally sourced boulders. Each boulder weighs between 20,000 pounds and 25 tons, with the stacked columns ranging in height from 30 to 35 feet. The vibrant structures stand in stark contrast to the surrounding desert terrain, visually punctuating the landscape and highlighting the intersection between natural environment and human intervention. Rondinone describes the location as being symbolically and physically “midway between the natural and the artificial”—the natural defined by the surrounding mountains, desert, and dry lakebed; the artificial by the adjacent interstate and continuous flow of vehicles linking Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

To the east lies Jean Dry Lake, a playa that briefly holds water during seasonal rains and has long served as a site for ephemeral artistic expression. The selection of this location nods to the legacy of Land Art, referencing the site-specific actions of Tinguely and Heizer. Visible in the distance are the McCullough, Bird Spring, Goodsprings, and Sheep mountain ranges, with Sloan Canyon—home to thousands of ancient petroglyphs carved by Indigenous peoples—located just beyond the ridgeline.

Commissioned and produced by the Nevada Museum of Art and the Art Production Fund, Seven Magic Mountains was unveiled to the public on May 11, 2016. Originally conceived as a two-year installation, its immense popularity led to multiple extensions, with Rondinone expressing his wish for the work to remain on view long-term. Today, the site continues to attract an estimated 1,000 visitors daily, standing as one of the most iconic and accessible examples of contemporary public art in the American West.