The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will open to the public on Tuesday in Exposition Park, bringing a collection devoted to visual storytelling that spans centuries and includes works ranging from paintings and photography to comics, murals, and artifacts from George Lucas’ “Star Wars” films.
The five-story, 300,000-square-foot museum was founded by Lucas and business executive Mellody Hobson, and is dedicated to visual storytelling across cultures, centuries, and media. The building itself, designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Stantec, features a curving exterior clad in more than 1,200 individually shaped panels. A central arch spans 185 feet above a public plaza.
The museum is surrounded by a new 13-acre park and gardens, designed by landscape architect Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA, transforming what was previously an asphalt parking lot. The grounds now include more than 300 newly planted trees, an amphitheater, a meadow, a hanging garden, and 10 monumental outdoor sculptures.
Inside, the museum features more than 100,000 square feet of exhibition space across over 30 galleries. Its inaugural exhibitions present more than 1,300 works from the collection, according to the museum. These trace the history of narrative art, beginning on the first floor with an exploration of heroes, myths, and sacred imagery spanning thousands of years. Other galleries focus on themes like love, family, and community, as well as fantasy, romance, and adventure. Forms of storytelling like comic books, manga, graphic novels, photography, and murals are also highlighted.
The collection features works from artists such as Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth, Frank Frazetta, Diego Rivera, Gordon Parks, Charles Schulz, Robert Crumb, and Judith F. Baca. The museum also displays reproductions of works and sites that cannot be moved, including the Sistine Chapel ceiling, ancient cave paintings from Altamira in Spain, and the Aztec Sun Stone.
For film enthusiasts, the museum’s cinema collection includes the complete Lucas Archives from 1971 to 2012. An inaugural exhibition titled “Star Wars in Motion” showcases concept designs, props, and costumes associated with vehicles from the first six “Star Wars” films, notably Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder and the first physical build of General Grievous’ Wheel Bike.
George Lucas explained the museum’s purpose earlier this month, stating that it “was created to honor humanity’s stories and the artists who illustrate them.” He added, “The artists in this collection didn’t just create images, they connected our modern imaginations with our ancient emotions — with common beliefs creating community. Their work spans genres, media, and time. They deserve to be in a museum.” Mellody Hobson shared a similar sentiment, saying, “We wanted a museum unlike any other — one that brings people from every walk of life through the same doors.” She noted the collection's diverse stories are intended so that “more people can walk in and, somewhere in these galleries, see themselves — and the world they know — reflected back.”
The public debut follows an opening-night celebration on Saturday, hosted by Lucas and Hobson for invited guests, including artists, filmmakers, and philanthropists. Attendees included Oprah Winfrey and actor Mark Hamill, who portrayed Luke Skywalker. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also attended the event, calling Los Angeles the “storytelling capital of the world.”
Beyond the galleries, the museum offers two theaters with continuous film programs, and a research library that is free to the public. The library houses over 30,000 comic books, select holdings from the Skywalker Ranch Library, about 3,000 art books donated by Steve and Ann Martin, and more than 2,900 volumes from the personal library of writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell, whose work influenced Lucas’ creation of “Star Wars,” according to museum officials. Visitors can also dine at Skywalker Grill, a full-service restaurant open to both museum visitors and the general public.
