The futuristic museum brings together painting, illustration, comics and film.

On Tuesday, the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens its doors to the public to inaugurate a new way of exploring narrative art through the combination of various visual arts, including painting, illustration, comics and film.

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Located in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park, the futuristic, spaceship-shaped building has 27,870 square meters spread across five floors, all with an estimated budget of US$1,5 billion. Its interior houses more than 1,300 works of art distributed across more than 30 galleries, where various artists, movements and periods of human history converge.

They include classical masters such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Vincent van Gogh, Beatrix Potter, George Bellows and Norman Rockwell, as well as contemporary artists such as Mexicans Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Robert Colescott, Frank Frazetta, Ernie Barnes and Robert Crumb.

The extensive corridors explore different themes of narrative art, categorized into five broad groups: comics, stories for children, fantasy, history and community.

Painting is interwoven throughout the spaces with Walt Disney comic panels, manga, drawings of Pikachu, photographs by Robert Capa and iconic images such as “Afghan Girl,” as well as a striking painting of Barack Obama from behind.

Reproductions of the Altamira Caves and the Vatican Ceilings

The George Lucas Museum also pays tribute to intangible art and great treasures that are impossible to move, as part of an effort to bring universal art closer to the public through technology.

Through an immersive experience, the center recreates the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the Human-Headed Winged Bulls from the Palace of Sargon II at the Louvre Museum, and the ancient cave paintings of the National Museum and Research Center of Altamira in Spain.

The Lucas Archives: Star Wars and Indiana Jones

The museum also houses an extensive collection of props, artwork, and objects from two of the most beloved film franchises in history: Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

This extensive library, first established in 1983 at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California, covers more than four decades of filmmaking that have nurtured and reflected Lucas’ creative vision over the years.

Inside are authentic cinematic treasures, including an exhibition of Darth Vader’s costume, the R2-D2 robot and C-3PO’s costume from the “Star Wars” saga.

Library, Cinema and Bansky’s Urban Art

Set within a landscaped exterior, a kind of open-air public plaza dominated by a large oculus that provides a view of the sky, the complex has two movie theaters with capacity for nearly 300 people, which will screen films continuously.

It also has a library with a wide selection of publications for all ages. Although outside borrowing is not available, books can be reserved for consultation on the premises.

The fifth and final floor of this ambitious museum is reserved for murals, including an exclusive gallery dedicated to works by street artist and political activist Banksy that have never been seen before.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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