Ernie Barnes, Drum Major
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Art in Motion: Connecting Worlds at the future Lucas Museum
Rising from Los Angeles’s Exposition Park like a tangible vision, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art celebrates the universal power of storytelling. Its collections — which include painting, sculpture, photography, comic art, book and magazine illustrations, and filmmaking arts — draw from cultures and eras worldwide, showing how stories shape our view of the world.
Set to open in 2026 and founded by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, the museum was designed by renowned architect Ma Yansong of MAD Architects, with Stantec serving as the executive architect. The 11-acre campus features green space by Studio-MLA, expansive galleries, state-of-the-art theaters, and spaces for learning, engagement, and events — all poised to make it a sanctuary where imagination, design, and creativity come together.
Kadir Nelson, Art Connoisseurs, 2019, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, Art Connoisseurs © 2019 Kadir Nelson
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
George Lucas has been passionate about collecting narrative art for over 50 years. The Lucas Museum’s initial collection features a wonderful array of works from talented illustrators like Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith, Maxfield Parrish, and N. C. Wyeth. It also celebrates comic art giants such as Winsor McCay, Frank Frazetta, George Herriman, Jack Kirby, and R. Crumb.
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Robert Colescott, George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page from an American History Textbook, 1975, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, © 2021 The Robert H. Colescott Separate Property Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
The museum’s collection includes inspiring muralists like Judith F. Baca, JR, and Diego Rivera, along with pieces by other remarkable artists like Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, and Robert Colescott. Visitors can also look forward to seeing props and costumes from Lucasfilm, as well as classic movie posters, making it a truly exciting experience.
Criselda Vasquez, The New American Gothic, 2017, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, © Criselda Vasquez. All rights reserved.
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
N. C. Wyeth, “Slag was a figure for sculptors” (1918), illustration for “The Mildest-Mannered Man,” Everybody’s Magazine, 1919, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Narrative art is created to depict stories through images. Much of the world’s artistic expression has been driven by storytelling, conveying narratives rooted in religion, myth, history, literature, or events. Narrative art appears in many forms, from cave paintings and hieroglyphics to paintings, murals, illustrations, comics, and sculpture. It has also grown in photography, magazine and book illustrations, film, and digital media, reaching broad audiences and reminding them of myths and stories that shape daily life.
Jessie Willcox Smith, The Sewing Lesson, cover for Collier’s, 1907, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles.
Credit Image courtesy The Illustrated Gallery Fort Washington, PA
Bernie Wrightson, wraparound cover for Marvel edition of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein, 1983, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles.
Credit 2021 Bernie Wrightson / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image courtesy of Profiles in History
Ralph McQuarrie, production painting for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Artoo and Threepio leave the pod in the desert), January 31, 1975, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles,
Credit Lucasfilm Ltd. 2020 All Rights Reserved.
George Lucas’s dedication to storytelling and innovative techniques has made some of the most successful films ever. In 1971, he turned an award-winning student film into his first feature, THX-1138. His second film, American Graffiti (1973), became the highest-grossing film of its time. It was the first film to weave multiple stories through interconnected narratives, supported by a contemporary music soundtrack.
George Lucas
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
Lucas has been the storywriter and executive producer for many hits, starting with Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). In 1981, he created Indiana Jones, co-writing and executive-producing the series, including Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), earning eight Academy Awards®. The TV series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992), received 12 Emmy Awards.
Mellody Hobson
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
In 2013, Lucas married Mellody Hobson, who is now co-CEO and president of Ariel Investments. Lucas and Hobson signed the Giving Pledge in 2010, committing to dedicate most of their wealth to improving education. They are especially interested in using the arts to make education emotionally meaningful. With this goal, Lucas and Hobson co-founded the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a new museum currently under construction in Los Angeles.
Credit The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art
The Lucas Museum demonstrates how narrative art influences societies—shaping beliefs, communicating values, inspiring imagination, and building communities. We encourage people to connect with artworks through the powerful stories they present.
