Lady Desert

Rhyolite, Nevada, United States

Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada is a 25-foot-tall cinder-block figure by Dr. Hugo Heyrman, installed in 1992 at Goldwell Open Air Museum in Rhyolite, Nevada. Goldwell lists it among the museum's five original sculptures, and a May 2024 photo shows it being repainted.

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Lady Desert

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Site-level location · 36.8949° N, 116.8307° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A 25-foot woman built from cinder blocks stands in the Nevada desert near the Rhyolite ghost town. Lady Desert: The Venus of Nevada is by Dr. Hugo Heyrman and is one of the five sculptures Goldwell Open Air Museum lists as its originals.

Goldwell began in 1984, when Belgian artist Albert Szukalski built a sculpture in Rhyolite, one of the most famous ghost towns of the western United States. Nevada Humanities says he then brought other artists to make large sculptures to join his. Las Vegas Weekly reports that Heyrman's figure, made of cinder blocks, was installed in 1992.

SPACES Archives describes it as a contemporary cinder block sculpture closely resembling the image of computer pixels, and Nevada Magazine called it a seemingly nude towering pink Lego woman. Las Vegas Weekly wrote in October 2024 that its shades of pink, yellow and red once contrasted sharply with the desert backdrop but have since faded to pastel hues. In a Nevada Humanities post, Michelle Graves, now the museum foundation's president, shows herself repainting the sculpture in May 2024.

The sculpture stands in a 15-acre park four miles west of Beatty, just off State Route 374. Goldwell says the museum is on private property, that its grounds are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that non-commercial personal photography is permitted at any time. The visitor centre and gift shop keep shorter hours, which Goldwell gives as approximately Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A 25-foot cinder-block figure in an open-air sculpture park beside the Rhyolite ghost town. Goldwell says the grounds are open 24 hours a day, and the visitor centre and gift shop run roughly Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm. The land is private property.

ACCESS

Goldwell Open Air Museum, 1 Golden Street, Beatty, Nevada, four miles west of Beatty off State Route 374. The sculpture grounds are open at all hours; commercial photography and filming need the owners' permission.

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