George Lucas and Mellody Hobson open narrative art museum in Los Angeles with star-studded gala

Star-studded gala in Los Angeles

Filmmaker George Lucas and businesswoman Mellody Hobson hosted an opening night gala on Saturday for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in South Los Angeles. The gathering drew figures across the entertainment industry, politics, and business ahead of the institution's official public opening on September 22. Attendees at Exposition Park included California Governor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and media executive Oprah Winfrey. Actors Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Hayden Christensen, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Nicolas Cage, and Samuel L. Jackson attended alongside directors Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Denis Villeneuve, Peter Jackson, and Spike Lee. Event co-chairs included Tom Cruise, Greta Gerwig, Lewis Hamilton, Jensen Huang, JR, Julie Bell, and Pharrell Williams. During the lobby ceremony, Queen Latifah delivered opening remarks comparing the venue's arrival to institutions in Paris and New York.

“Paris has the Louvre, New York has the Met, and Los Angeles has the Lucas museum.”

Collection dedicated to illustrators

The museum houses a selection from Lucas's personal collection of more than 40,000 paintings, illustrations, comic books, and film memorabilia. The holdings span 20th- and 21st-century murals, children's book art, science-fiction illustrations, movie posters, and props from the Star Wars franchise. Exhibited artists include Norman Rockwell, Frida Kahlo, and R. Crumb, alongside artifacts tracing the history of narrative visual storytelling. During the ceremony, speakers noted that Lucas began assembling the archive with a single $35 purchase of an Alley Oop drawing before expanding it over decades. Lucas addressed the audience about the central role of illustrators in popular culture and his motivation for establishing a permanent home for their work.

“I believe it wholeheartedly that you get to decide what art is.”

Development hurdles and construction

The opening concludes a development process spanning more than a decade, financed entirely by Lucas and Hobson with private funding estimated between $1 billion and $1.5 billion. Lucas first proposed the concept nearly twenty years ago, but initial efforts faced legal obstacles and civic opposition in San Francisco and Chicago before the founders settled on Los Angeles. Subsequent construction suffered from design revisions and supply-chain interruptions that postponed an earlier target opening set for 2022. Hobson addressed the logistical challenges during her opening speech, noting the persistent negotiations required to establish the venue.

“We did not realize how hard it would be to give a city a museum.”

Campus layout and public opening

Designed by architect Ma Yansong, the museum features a curvilinear exterior set across an 11-acre campus in Exposition Park. The interior incorporates more than 10,000 square feet of gallery space divided by a central cavernous courtyard. In addition to exhibition halls, the campus includes two theaters, a dedicated library, educational spaces, a retail store, a café, and the fifth-floor Skywalker Grill restaurant. Gala guests toured the galleries and gathered for dinner on the upper level prior to the public opening. The museum opens its doors to the general public on Tuesday, September 22.