Lucas Museum blends art and nature in Los Angeles through a planned Exposition Park campus scheduled to open on September 22, 2026. The project combines a five-story, organic museum by MAD, 11 acres of gardens and paths, and a collection of more than 40,000 works about visual storytelling.
Founded by filmmaker and collector George Lucas and investor Mellody Hobson, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is designed around the idea that images help people understand memory, identity, values, and community. The building and landscape are not separate attractions: the architecture creates the visual landmark, while the park supplies the everyday public setting.
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Key takeaways
- The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is scheduled to open in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park on September 22, 2026.
- Ma Yansong of MAD designed the five-story, approximately 300,000-square-foot museum, while Studio-MLA designed its 11-acre gardens and park.
- The founding collection contains more than 40,000 works spanning painting, illustration, comics, photography, children’s-book art, murals, and cinematic artifacts.
- The inaugural presentation is planned to show more than 1,200 objects in more than 30 galleries and approximately 100,000 square feet of gallery space.
- The museum’s landscape is part of the visitor experience, with native and drought-tolerant plantings, more than 200 new trees, paths, meadows, and shaded gathering areas.
What is the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles?
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles is a forthcoming Exposition Park institution founded by filmmaker and collector George Lucas and investor Mellody Hobson. The museum is scheduled to open to the public on September 22, 2026, with galleries devoted to the many ways visual stories shape memory, identity, values, and community. The museum’s official overview describes its purpose and founding.
The project is more ambitious than a conventional collection housed inside a landmark building. Its central idea is that the art, architecture, gardens, and public paths should work together. The museum describes the campus as a place where “imagination and everyday life meet,” a phrase that captures the intended relationship between cultural programming and ordinary public use. The official campus description explains how the building and landscape were conceived as a connected experience.
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How does the museum blend art and nature?
The Lucas Museum blends art and nature by placing a large, organic building within an 11-acre public landscape rather than treating the surrounding grounds as decoration. The gardens and paths are intended to provide access, orientation, shade, gathering space, and a transition between the city and the galleries.
Mia Lehrer and Studio-MLA designed the gardens and park. According to the museum, the campus replaces former asphalt parking lots with native and drought-tolerant plantings, more than 200 new trees, landforms inspired by Los Angeles’s geography, paths, meadows, and shaded gathering areas. That transformation gives the project a civic dimension: visitors can use part of the campus as green public space even when they are not focused on a particular exhibition.
The museum also says that the landscape captures rainwater for irrigation, a waterfall-like fountain contributes to renewable cooling, and rooftop solar panels supply clean energy. These are institutional sustainability claims, not evidence of an independently verified certification, so they should be understood as features described by the museum itself. Explore the museum’s account of the campus and landscape for the project’s stated environmental measures.
What does the Lucas Museum building look like?
The building is a biomorphic, curved structure designed by Ma Yansong of MAD, with Stantec serving as executive architect. The five-story building contains approximately 300,000 square feet, including about 100,000 square feet of gallery space, two cinematic theaters, a library, learning areas, dining, retail, and event or community spaces.
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The form draws inspiration from the large trees of Exposition Park. A 2022 museum construction account described the building as extending the idea of a tree canopy, with the structure rising at its center to form a gathering space. The exterior was described as using more than 1,500 individually shaped fiberglass-reinforced-polymer panels. Because that figure comes from a September 2022 construction-stage account, it is best treated as dated project context rather than a guarantee about every final fabrication detail. Read the museum’s 2022 account of the developing building, collection, and park.
| Part of the campus | What is planned or provided | Why it matters to visitors |
|---|---|---|
| Museum building | Five stories and approximately 300,000 square feet | Houses galleries, theaters, learning, dining, retail, and community areas |
| Galleries | Approximately 100,000 square feet | Provides space for the inaugural presentation and future exhibitions |
| Gardens and park | 11 acres, more than 200 new trees, paths, meadows, and shaded areas | Connects the museum to public outdoor life and Exposition Park |
| Cinema | Two cinematic theaters | Extends the museum’s narrative-art focus into film and moving-image programming |
| Library | Books for all ages, comics, magazines, science fiction, and fantasy | Offers a research and browsing space beyond the galleries |
What will be in the Lucas Museum collection?
The founding collection contains more than 40,000 works. The collection spans painting, illustration, comics, photography, murals, children’s-book art, magazine and book illustration, and cinematic artifacts. Announced artists include Norman Rockwell, Jessie Willcox Smith, Maxfield Parrish, Andrew Wyeth, Kadir Nelson, Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Jack Kirby, R. Crumb, Judith F. Baca, JR, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Jacob Lawrence, Charles White, and Robert Colescott. The museum’s opening announcement lists the collection’s scope and artists.
“Narrative art” therefore functions as a broad organizing idea rather than a single medium or period. A painting, comic, photograph, mural, children’s illustration, film prop, or costume can all be considered in relation to the story it tells, the audience it addresses, and the values it communicates.
What are the inaugural exhibitions?
The inaugural presentation is planned to include more than 1,200 objects across more than 30 galleries and approximately 100,000 square feet of gallery space. The announced themes include Architecture, Benton, Children’s Stories, Cinema, Everyday Life, Civic Life, Comics and Graphic Stories, Manga and Anime, Frazetta, History, Jessie Willcox Smith, Murals, Narrative Forms, Parrish, Photography, Rockwell, Wyeth, and Western Stories.
The exhibition structure combines recognizable human experiences with artist- and medium-focused presentations. Themes such as love, family, community, childhood, work, play, sports, adventure, fantasy, romance, and science fiction provide an accessible route into the collection. Dedicated areas devoted to artists or forms give the larger idea more specific focus. See the official list of the inaugural exhibitions, while remembering that exhibition content and gallery presentation can change before and after opening.
The cinema component is central to the museum’s identity. Planned material includes production designs, props, and costumes from the Lucas Archives, movie posters, and documentaries about artists and filmmakers. The museum has also announced an inaugural cinema exhibition titled Star Wars in Motion. That announcement does not make the institution a permanent Star Wars museum: the broader program covers visual storytelling across many artists, media, and traditions.
Readers who want a physical reference to the collection can look for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art catalog, a forthcoming two-volume TASCHEN publication listed by a bookseller as 832 pages with an August 20, 2026 publication date. Availability, final metadata, and retail listings should be verified before purchase.
When does the Lucas Museum open and what are the hours?
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is scheduled to open on September 22, 2026. The institution’s currently posted visitor information lists the following hours, but opening policies, ticketing, and operating hours are changeable and should be checked immediately before a visit on the official Plan Your Visit page.
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- Author: by Ioannis Anastassakis, MA
- Format: Book
- SkillLevel: Beginning-Intermediate
- NumberofPages: 80
- PublicationDate: 10_24_2002
| Day | Posted museum hours |
|---|---|
| Monday | 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. |
| Tuesday | Closed |
| Wednesday and Thursday | 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. |
| Friday and Saturday | 9:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m. |
| Sunday | 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. |
Last entry is listed as 45 minutes before closing. The surrounding park and gardens are scheduled to open at 8:00 a.m. and close at sunset, which means outdoor access may begin before museum galleries open. The museum is located at One Lucas Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90037.
Does admission include the park and library?
The museum states that admission includes the galleries, exhibitions, library, and park. The library is planned to include books for all ages, comics, magazines, science fiction, and fantasy, with its online catalog described as forthcoming.
Roof-garden access is reserved for private events, so ordinary visitors should not assume that a museum admission ticket includes the roof garden. Ticket prices, timed-entry rules, accessibility accommodations, opening-week procedures, restaurant and retail operations, and special programming are all details to confirm as the opening date approaches. The museum’s posted visitor information is the appropriate source for changes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How can visitors plan a day at Exposition Park?
The Lucas Museum is part of the larger 160-acre Exposition Park ecosystem. A visit can therefore be planned as a full cultural day rather than as an isolated stop. Neighboring destinations include the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, the California African American Museum, the California Science Center, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, BMO Stadium, and the Exposition Park Rose Garden. The museum’s campus information places the project within that wider park setting.
A practical itinerary could begin with the gardens and outdoor paths, continue through the Lucas Museum’s inaugural galleries, and then add one nearby institution or the Rose Garden. Friday and Saturday’s later posted closing time may offer more flexibility, while Tuesday is currently listed as the museum’s closed day. The best sequence will depend on confirmed ticketing, crowd conditions, event schedules, and the operating hours of neighboring attractions after opening.
What is confirmed, and what may still change?
The opening date, address, named architectural and landscape designers, campus scale, announced collection size, inaugural exhibition scope, and currently posted hours are confirmed institutional announcements or listings. Interpretations about the museum blurring the boundary between art institution and public park are analysis based on those design and access choices, not promises about how every visitor will experience the campus.
Several practical details remain especially vulnerable to change: ticket prices, timed entry, accessibility services, opening-week policies, crowd levels, programming, special exhibitions, shop inventory, and restaurant or café operations. The museum is scheduled to open in the future relative to the announcement materials, so no claim should be made about final visitor flow, actual shade performance, food quality, theater programming, or exhibition quality without firsthand reporting or authoritative post-opening evidence.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art open?
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is scheduled to open to the public on September 22, 2026, in Exposition Park at One Lucas Plaza, Los Angeles, California 90037. The opening date and visitor details should be rechecked before travel.
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Does Lucas Museum admission include the park and roof garden?
Museum admission is stated to include the galleries, exhibitions, library, and park. Roof-garden access is reserved for private events, so ordinary visitors should not assume that the roof garden is included.
How much does it cost to visit the Lucas Museum?
No ticket price is provided in the supplied institutional information. Ticketing, timed entry, and opening-week policies may change and should be confirmed on the museum’s official Plan Your Visit page before a trip.
The Bottom Line
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is planned as both a major collection and a public landscape: a futuristic, tree-canopy-inspired building surrounded by gardens and paths, with inaugural galleries covering illustration, comics, photography, painting, murals, and cinema. It is scheduled to open in Exposition Park on September 22, 2026; verify hours, tickets, and opening policies before traveling.
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