Inside The Art of the Brick, the Franklin Institute’s Massive New Lego Exhibit

The Art of the Brick exhibit returns to the Franklin Institute in all its Lego glory. / Photography by Laura Swartz

Back in 2015, the Franklin Institute hosted the blockbuster exhibit, The Art of the Brick, featuring intricate pieces by artist Nathan Sawaya. We marveled at Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile rendered in brick form. We were captivated by Sawaya’s original pieces that conveyed movement and emotion, and somehow spoke to the human condition using thousands of multicolored plastic playthings. The exhibit was wildly successful, too, drawing over 300,000 visitors.

Well now The Art of the Brick is back in Philly, bigger and better than before. The exhibit features over 100 works, including a couple Philly-specific pieces. Even better, this time around there is a 9,000-square-foot Lego play space where kids of all ages — and adults, let’s be honest — can get creative and play to their heart’s content. Here’s what to expect, and what’s new this time around.

The Art Gallery

Much of the first section of the exhibit will be familiar to those with long memories. The front room reimagines famous paintings — think The Scream, Starry Night, American Gothic — in both flat and 3-D Lego-brick form. New to this section: Basquiat’s Pez Dispenser, with the T.rex’s crown whimsically suspended over his head. Frida Kahlo’s Frame and Gustav Klimt’s Kiss are also newcomers.

Basquiat, in Lego form, at The Art of the Brick

The next room focuses on sculpture, so it’s less colorful by nature, emulating the marble of David and the stone of the giant, monolithic Moai head. (Philly museum-goers will recognize Degas’s Little Dancer and Rodin’s Thinker from the Franklin Institute’s Parkway neighbors.)

Sawaya’s original creations feature humanoid figures ranging from joy to struggle. The most iconic piece, Yellow, you’ll remember from last time (or at least from imagery promoting the exhitit): A figure rips open their chest as Lego bricks spill out.

Yellow by Nathan Sawaya

Also fun from last time: a 20-foot-long dinosaur skeleton!

New to Philly: PERNiCiEM: The Endangered Species Connection

A new section pairs 13 large-scale Lego sculptures of endangered animals with wildlife photography by Dean West. A flamboyance of flamingos wades, humpback whales swim, and a life-size giraffe grazes by its grand, cinematic image. “We traveled the globe to find different locations where these actual endangered species would be in their natural environment, but we wanted to use the Lego-brick versions to convey the message that they are endangered, and we need to act,” said Sawaya.

Touches of Philly

In addition to the Lego Liberty Bell, which has been at the Franklin Institute since the last time, Sawaya created a special homage to the museum and its namesake. A scale replica of the Benjamin Franklin statute from the Memorial rotunda is rendered in Lego form, with a multicolored “200” celebrating the museum’s bicentennial. Visitors hoping to win a family membership — and bragging rights — can scan a QR code to guess how many bricks it took to build Ben. Sawaya’s works range from 4,000 to 112,000 pieces.

Artist Nathan Sawaya unveils his Benjamin Franklin Lego sculpture at the Franklin Institute’s The Art of the Brick exhibit.

The Play Space

For keen-eyed observers, there’s one more blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Philly reference. In the play space’s “Brick Brunch” food-inspired section, a mustard-topped, figure-eight soft pretzel (in Lego form, of course) is flanked by a tiny LOVE statue.

That dining-room table is just one section of the 9,000-square-foot brick utopia that’s new to the exhibit this go-around. You’ll also find a collaborative mural, a cityscape, and a racecar-building section where you can race your creations down a ramp. (I lost to a little boy. I didn’t get into writing for my engineering skills, let’s just say that.)

The 9,000-square-foot Lego play space at The Art of the Brick

While the new art is certainly exciting, this space is the most welcome addition. Last time, The Art of the Brick was a visual wonder, but not particularly engaging for little ones. What fun is looking at a bunch of cool Lego stuff if you can’t build anything yourself, let alone touch anything? Now, kids can marvel at Sawaya’s incredible builds as inspo, with the promise that they can soon commit their own dreams to brick.

While kids will likely want to spend hours here, plenty of adults are sure to get in on the action. (And for those who need a break, there are benches by the play areas!) Still not enough? You’ll exit through a gift shop filled with — what else? — lots of Lego sets to take home.

Know Before You Go

The Art of the Brick runs at the Franklin Institute (222 North 20th Street) from February 17th through September 2nd. Timed tickets are available online, and are $39 for kids and $43 for adults (with discounts for museum members). If you’re looking to save some money, there are also evening tickets for $20, which include admission to the exhibit only, from 5 p.m. to close on Thursdays through Saturdays.