George Lucas is preparing to open one of his most ambitious projects outside cinema: a vast new museum in Los Angeles dedicated to the art of visual storytelling. The spaceship-like Lucas Museum of Narrative Art brings together paintings, comics, photography, murals, costumes and film production material in an institution designed to challenge conventional definitions of fine art.
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art prepares to open in Los Angeles
“I’m used to doing the impossible,” Lucas said as the museum was unveiled to the press. But “this one almost broke my will”.
The film-maker was referring to the lengthy journey behind the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which is due to open on 22 September, eight years after construction began in Los Angeles and following unsuccessful attempts to establish the institution in San Francisco and Chicago.
Located near the University of Southern California, where Lucas studied, the futuristic building contains 100,000 sq ft — around 9,300 sq metres — of gallery space.
Its collection spans an unusually broad range of visual culture, with works by Judy Baca, Norman Rockwell, Diego Rivera, Banksy and Frida Kahlo appearing alongside comic art, film costumes and illustrations.
Among the more unexpected exhibits are the Cowardly Lion costume from The Wizard of Oz and drawings associated with Asterix and Garfield.
Museum explores how pictures tell stories
The common thread is narrative. Lucas and his wife and museum co-founder, Mellody Hobson, argue that images across different media have long helped societies communicate stories, values and shared beliefs.
Visual storytelling “is the art that surrounds us”, senior curator Ryan Linkof said. “It is the art in the visual history that we assume every day, often without even realizing it. Newspaper photographs, advertisements, book covers, comic books, posters, street art, movies.”
Hobson described narrative art as something that “depicts the myths that anchor us, the stories that we believe in”.
Lucas added that images help make those stories feel real, creating shared cultural reference points.
Spaceship design brings inevitable Star Wars comparisons
The museum consists of two principal sections. One contains most of the galleries and two cinemas, while the other houses the mural collection and a research library.
Its sweeping, futuristic architecture inevitably evokes Star Wars, although architect Ma Yansong has said the inspiration came instead from natural forms including tree canopies and clouds.
Between the sections is a shaded plaza featuring a circular opening, or oculus, through which visitors can “see the sky and the universe”, according to Yansong.
Lucas began collecting art during the 1970s, later combining his holdings with Hobson’s collection. Work towards creating a permanent museum began roughly two decades ago.
After plans elsewhere failed to materialise, construction finally started in Los Angeles in 2018.
“The largest, most popular form of narrative art is cinema. So what better space for it to be than the home of storytelling?” museum chief executive Tracey Bates said.
From cave paintings and Picasso to Superman and Pikachu
Visitors begin with a journey through thousands of years of storytelling, including an immersive recreation of cave paintings and examples inspired by ancient civilisations and biblical narratives.
The museum’s main collection largely concentrates on the 20th and 21st centuries.
Individual galleries explore comics, children’s literature and manga. Visitors can encounter Krazy Kat, Little Orphan Annie, The Adventures of Tintin and Superman, alongside artwork from Where the Wild Things Are, Astro Boy and a portrait of Pikachu.
Other spaces are organised around themes.
A gallery examining community includes neighbourhood scenes by Ernie Barnes and a Frida Kahlo self-portrait. A childhood section contains Margaret Keane’s Children of Paris and Picasso’s Little Girl, while works examining civic life include photography documenting the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike.
Star Wars appears without dominating the collection
Despite Lucas’s defining association with the franchise, the institution is not designed as a Star Wars museum.
Fans will nevertheless find an exhibition examining transportation in the films, including vehicle models, costumes and production artwork, as well as smaller references elsewhere in the building.
The mural collection is another major element. It includes material relating to Judy Baca’s monumental depiction of Los Angeles history, several Banksy works removed from their original walls and an enormous image of French artist JR’s Kikito, showing a child peering over the US-Mexico border wall.
Visitors encouraged to interpret art themselves
The museum has deliberately avoided covering its galleries with lengthy explanatory texts. Works generally carry only small plaques listing essential details such as title, artist, date and materials.
Linkof said curators wanted to avoid a “heavily mediated” experience that dictates “where to look, how to look, what to think, how to understand and interpret something”.
Visitors seeking additional information can instead scan images using their phones to access background material.
The approach reflects Lucas and Hobson’s broader ambition to give popular visual culture greater institutional recognition.
Bates noted that Rockwell was once regarded primarily as an advertising illustrator rather than a major artist, despite what she described as the extraordinary storytelling depth of his images.
“How many of us here in this room have learned to face our fears because of the work of Maurice Sendak, or learn moral lessons while studying EH. Shepard’s drawings of the 100 Acre Wood?” Bates asked.
“George calls it the People’s Art, and this museum is its home.”
When the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens in Los Angeles, its defining proposition will therefore extend well beyond Hollywood. By placing comics, street art, illustration, photography, cinema and celebrated paintings under one roof, the museum aims to demonstrate that storytelling through images has always been central to how people understand their cultures, histories and one another.
Thomas Hawthorne is a contributor to Nintendo-power.com, covering a broad range of topics including news, business, technology, entertainment, lifestyle, and current affairs. He focuses on delivering clear, accurate, and accessible reporting that helps readers stay informed about important developments and emerging trends. With a reader-first approach, Thomas aims to provide useful context, balanced insights, and engaging stories that reflect the issues, events, and interests shaping everyday life.