The invention provides a multi-beam illumination system (1) for providing an illumination image (53). The multi-beam illumination system (1) has a plurality of light sources (11) with optional collimating optics (12), arranged to generate a plurality of light beams (13); a panel (30) comprising a plurality of panel segments (32) in a panel plane (35) at a first distance (d1) and arranged to contain a plurality of segment patterns (34) on the corresponding panel segments (32); and an imaging lens array (40) comprising a plurality of imaging lenses (42) in an imaging lens plane (45) parallel to the panel plane (35). Each imaging lens (42) of the imaging lens array (40) is arranged to image a corresponding segment pattern (34) of the plurality of segment patterns (34) into a respective projection image (52) of a plurality of projection images (52). The plurality of projection images (52) overlap at a predetermined image distance (Lp) and form the illumination image (53).