The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has opened its doors for the first time, welcoming visitors to a media preview in Los Angeles as the long-awaited institution prepares for its public debut. Director George Lucas himself was on hand for the preview, marking the first look inside a museum that fans and art lovers have been anticipating for years. The museum is set to open to the public on September 22nd.
The building is itself one of the main attractions. Spread across a 300,000 square foot space, it has been described as an architectural marvel that looks like a spaceship, a design that stands out sharply from more conventional museum buildings. The structure sits inside Exhibition Park in South Los Angeles, placing the new institution within one of the city's established cultural districts.
Inside, the museum is organised into 33 galleries, offering a large amount of space to explore. Notably, only one of those 33 galleries is dedicated to Star Wars, a detail that underlines the museum's ambition to be far more than a shrine to a single franchise. The remaining galleries are given over to a much broader range of art and storytelling.
Those other galleries span a wide variety of forms, including muralism, comic art and photography, alongside a huge assortment of other materials. Organisers describe an experience in which a visitor might come through the doors chiefly for Star Wars and then happen across a Frida Kahlo painting, discover something new about murals, or otherwise stumble upon works they did not expect to find.
Many of the works on display come from a personal collection that George Lucas has been building for more than 50 years. That long span of collecting has produced an eclectic mix, and the holdings even include pieces by the elusive street artist known as Banksy. The result is a collection that ranges well beyond the science fiction and fantasy imagery most associated with Lucas.
For Star Wars fans in particular, the museum promises plenty to see. Among the items on display are versions of Luke Skywalker's land speeders, including one from the first film and another from 1983's Return of the Jedi. These pieces sit within the single Star Wars gallery, tying the museum's popular appeal to the wider narrative art on show throughout the building.
The combination of a striking building, a broad collection and instantly recognisable film artefacts is central to how the museum is presenting itself. By placing Star Wars memorabilia alongside works by artists such as Frida Kahlo and Banksy, the institution is inviting visitors to move between popular culture and fine art in a single visit. The public will get its own chance to do so when the doors open on September 22nd.