Denis Villeneuve & Vija Celmins Announced as 2026 LACMA Art+Film Gala Honorees
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has announced that director Denis Villeneuve and artist Vija Celmins will be the official honorees at its upcoming 15th annual Art+Film Gala.
Scheduled for Saturday, November 7, 2026, the evening will be co-chaired by LACMA trustee Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio, both of whom have served as longtime champions for the museum’s cinematic initiatives. Gucci will once again serve as the presenting sponsor, maintaining a vital partnership that has supported the gala since its inception in 2011.
This year’s celebration highlights two creators who have shaped their respective visual mediums. Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, praised the pairing by noting that both honorees represent the pinnacle of visual creativity. Whether translating the vastness of the natural world onto a canvas or constructing immersive, cerebral landscapes for the silver screen, both Celmins and Villeneuve have established themselves as master world-builders whose meticulously crafted visions leave an indelible impact on audiences.
Representing the world of cinema, Villeneuve has balanced complex, cerebral narratives with major visceral appeal in films like Sicario, Prisoners, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049. His blockbuster hit Dune: Part One won six Academy Awards, and its visually ambitious sequel, Dune: Part Two grossed over $700 million globally while securing two additional Oscars. Villeneuve is set to conclude his acclaimed science-fiction trilogy with Dune: Part Three this December, and he has also been tapped to direct the next James Bond film for Amazon MGM Studios.
Celmins, born in 1938, is widely regarded as one of the most influential visual artists working today. She first garnered attention in the early 1960s by painting physical objects in her Los Angeles studio before expanding her focus to photographs found in books and magazines. By the late 1960s, Celmins shifted her primary focus to graphite drawings, though she returned to painting in the 1980s while continuing to champion drawing and printmaking.
She is highly celebrated for her hyper-detailed depictions of mercurial, expansive natural environments like ocean waves, desert floors, and star-filled night skies. Over her distinguished career, Celmins has earned a MacArthur Fellowship, been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and seen her work featured in major solo exhibitions at prestigious global institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
The annual Art+Film Gala serves a vital role in supporting LACMA’s broader cultural mission. Proceeds from the event directly underwrite the museum’s efforts to make film central to its