The wait is almost over. Located in South Los Angeles’s historic Exposition Park, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens its doors to the public on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is a surreal adventure the moment you step through the front entrance. Every floor and exhibit has something new to experience. Even the grounds and architecture is a work of art. It’s fitting that the building was inspired by a cloud, as you find yourself floating through each room. The design allows you to write your own story as you explore.
Founded by filmmaker George Lucas and business leader Mellody Hobson, the institution is dedicated to the universal human tradition of visual storytelling, granting narrative pop culture, such as illustration, comic books, and cinema, equal standing alongside fine art.
Designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Stantec, the organic, cloud-like 300,000-square-foot building features more than 100,000 square feet of gallery space across 30-plus galleries. The surrounding 13-acre campus, designed by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA, replaces an asphalt parking lot with native green space, an amphitheater, a waterfall, and 10 monumental outdoor sculptures by artists ranging from Fernando Botero to Mark Newman.
Inaugural Exhibitions and Film Program
Spanning over 1,300 works, the museum’s inaugural exhibitions begin on the first floor with The History of Narrative Art: Heroes • Myths • The Sacred, which pairs original collection pieces with high-tech, 3D-scanned reproductions of immovable global landmarks like the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the Altamira cave paintings. Higher floors host thematic galleries exploring love, labor, fantasy, and adventure through works by Vincent van Gogh, Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo, and Diego Rivera. Dedicated installations honor 20th-century illustration giants, monumental murals, including Judith F. Baca’s The Great Wall of Los Angeles, and a specialized exhibition titled Star Wars in Motion, focusing on land vehicles from the film saga. Cinematic arts are further celebrated in two drop-in theaters: the Robert Flaherty Theater, which explores reality and artistic processes, and the Slavko Vorkapich Theater, which focuses on the mechanics and emotion of motion.
Public Amenities and Opening Celebrations
Beyond gallery space, the museum offers a free public Research Library featuring more than 30,000 Silver Age comic books, holdings from the Skywalker Ranch Library, 3,000 art books donated by Steve and Ann Martin, and mythologist Joseph Campbell’s annotated 2,900-volume personal library. Dining options include the Skywalker Grill, a full-service top-floor restaurant designed by Rockwell Group, offering California-inspired American cuisine and sweeping skyline views. Before the public debut, the museum hosts Member Previews from September 5–11, a local 90037 Zip Code Neighborhood Preview on September 13, and a gala Opening Night on September 19, co-chaired by Tom Cruise, Greta Gerwig, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Pharrell Williams, and Jensen Huang.
The Museum opens to the public on September 22, 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit lucasmuseum.org/plan-your-visit.
