Following a 17-year development process marked by site shifts and design debates, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opened its 13-acre Los Angeles campus on September 19, 2026, with an A-list gala. Co-founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the institution debuts its public opening on September 22 with a 40,000-piece collection.
Star-Studded Opening Night Gala Celebrates Exposition Park Campus
Hollywood luminaries, political figures, and arts leaders gathered on Saturday, September 19, 2026, for the starry assembly of guests celebrating the opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Exposition Park. Co-founder George Lucas and Mellody Hobson hosted an expansive guest list that included Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo Del Toro, Laura Dern, Mark Hamill, Spike Lee, Greta Gerwig, Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Taking the stage during the inaugural celebrations, Queen Latifah marked the scale of the new cultural institution. Nobody gets to go to a night like this!
Latifah told the crowd, comparing the launch to historical museum openings around the world.
“We are witnessing history.”
Queen Latifah, event participant
Hobson issued the room a warning during her remarks: If your husband or spouse comes home and says they want to build a museum, I suggest your response is a hard ‘no.’
Architecture, Galleries, and the 40,000-Piece Collection
Opening to the general public on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, the 300,000-square-foot, five-story building sits on a 13-acre campus in Los Angeles designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Stantec. The structure features a curving exterior clad in more than 1,200 individually shaped panels, cylindrical glass elevators, and a central arch spanning 185 feet above a public plaza.
The institution houses more than 30 galleries across 100,000 square feet of exhibition space. Inaugural exhibitions display more than 1,300 works from George Lucas’s 40,000-piece art collection. The holdings encompass illustrators, 20th- and 21st-century mural paintings, extensive comic art, children’s book illustrations, science-fiction art, and cinematic artifacts including movie posters.
Artists represented in the opening exhibitions include Vincent van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell, N.C. Baca, according to reports from NBC Los Angeles. The museum’s cinema collection incorporates the complete Lucas Archives from 1971 to 2012, featuring concept designs, props, and vehicles such as Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder and the first physical build of General Grievous’ Wheel Bike
in an inaugural exhibition titled Star Wars in Motion
.
Honoring the People’s Art and Community Access
Museum leadership emphasized that the institution was built to elevate genres of visual storytelling that have historically lacked representation in traditional fine art museums. Museum CEO Tracey Bates noted during a media preview that Lucas viewed narrative art as a vital spark.
“The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art was created to honor humanity’s stories and the artists who illustrate them.”
George Lucas, Founder
Lucas referred to the works as the People’s Art
during the press preview, explaining that illustrators connected our modern imaginations with our ancient emotions
.
Campus Amenities, Research Library, and Public Parks
The campus welcomes its first general admission visitors on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
Keep reading