World's largest display of Lego art returns to the Franklin Institute in February

Visitors to the Franklin Institute next year can gaze upon masterpieces like Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night" and Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa." But there's a catch — the artworks are constructed from Legos. 

"The Art of the Brick," a traveling exhibition featuring the world's largest display of Lego art, arrives at the museum Saturday, Feb. 17. Created by New York-based contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya, more than 100 pieces, made from millions of toy bricks, will be on view.

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Along with reimagined versions of classic paintings, the collection has a 9,000-square-foot Lego play space and a multimedia gallery of "Lego brick infused photography," made in collaboration with photographer Dean West.

Other Lego-built highlights include a 20-foot-long T-Rex skeleton, a giant skull and "Yellow," a life-size sculpture of a man ripping his chest open and thousands of Legos tumbling out of the cavity. Sawaya will also unveil a Philadelphia-exclusive creation at the Franklin Institute.

"The Art of the Brick" — the first major museum exhibition to use Lego bricks as its sole art medium — was last shown at the Franklin Institute in 2015, when it enjoyed a successful run extended by high demand. Sawaya's exhibition was accompanied by a 500,000-piece Lego replica of the Vatican constructed by Bob Simon, a Pennsylvania-native priest. The special piece was unveiled that September, when Pope Francis visited Philadelphia.

Tickets for "The Art of the Brick" will go on sale early next year. The exhibition is scheduled to run through Monday, Sept. 2.

The Art of the Brick