Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Opens With ‘Star Wars,’ Banksy, Whimsy, and Views Galore — SkimNews
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- The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, backed by George Lucas and Mellody Hobson with more than $1 billion invested, opens Tuesday in Los Angeles's Exposition Park after 16+ years and failed plans to build in San Francisco and Chicago.
- The museum draws from a permanent collection of more than 40,000 works to display roughly 1,300 artifacts across 30 galleries, housed in a 300,000-square-foot building designed by architect Ma Yansong on a 13-acre campus adjacent to USC, Lucas's alma mater.
- Lucas called himself a "contrarian" and his museum a "temple to the people's art," arguing that narrative art "creates a group of people with a common belief system" — even as the collection mixes Frida Kahlo, Norman Rockwell, Banksy, Manga, and a Trump-mocking golf cart armed with KFC and a hamburger with no strict curatorial logic.
- Star Wars takes up less than 10% of the space but still anchors the experience with models of R2-D2, C-3P0, Darth Vader, and Stormtroopers, plus seven full-sized screen-used vehicles including Luke Skywalker's landspeeder from the original 1977 film.
- Admission is $25, with free entry for visitors under 18, active-duty military, and residents within the museum's zip code; the surrounding gardens, store, rooftop Skywalker Grill, and level-five terrace — which offers panoramic views including the Hollywood sign — require no ticket.
Why it matters: Lucas framed narrative art as a civilizing force ("not kill each other") and deliberately kept Star Wars to under 10% of space, signaling the museum is designed to outlast his franchise. With $25 admission and free entry for local-zip residents, a collection of 40,000+ works is now publicly accessible in Exposition Park for the first time.
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