A huge Tim Burton exhibition is opening at London’s Design Museum. And it really is huge!
Over 600 items are due to go on display in The World of Tim Burton which will open on 25 October at the museum in Kensington. Which of course means it opens just in time for Halloween!
The show will let visitors journey through all five remarkable decades of the director’s remarkable career.
Highlights will include hundreds of Burton’s expressionistic sketches and drawings that he’s created prolifically since childhood.
These will be seen alongside props, set designs, and costumes from his iconic films, with over 18 of his movies individually spotlighted in the exhibition.
It’ll celebrate the creative processes behind some of the most significant movies of the past five decades, including Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).
Objects are coming on loan from Tim Burton’s extensive personal archives, key film studio archives including Paramount, Amazon MGM Studios, and Warner Bros., and the private collections of Burton’s collaborators. Hugely excitingly, many items have never been on public display in the UK ever before.
Burton’s career has endured since the 1980s, and he’s still producing hits. Not only will the Design Museum exhibition include items related to just-released blockbuster Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — which has been a huge hit at the global Box Office — it will also feature objects from his other recent worldwide smash: the Netflix series Wednesday.
Jenna Ortega's viral Wednesday dress from Netflix series
For many visitors — and avid TikTokers — the highlight of the show will be the Rave’N dance dress worn by actor Jenna Ortega in character as Wednesday Addams in the series, which is produced by MGM Television and debuted in 2022.
The iconic dress went all kinds of viral on TikTok and Reels after the show aired.
Firstly it was a hit through clips from the series where Ortega famously wore it while dancing to The Cramps’ 1981 cover of Goo Goo Muck at Wednesday’s prom.
Then it took on a life of its own with a trend of Wednesday-esque choreography to Lady Gaga’s 2011 track Bloody Mary. It’s the one that goes "I won't cry for you" etc. Lady Gaga then re-enacted the trend herself, which shows just how much of an online hit it was.
Excitingly, this will be the first EVER global public display of the dress. It’ll be seen alongside the school uniform from the series, as well as Burton’s original character concept drawings.
Highlights in The World of Tim Burton
There’ll be plenty of other costumes too.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman costume from 1992’s Batman Returns — featuring the stitched motif that Burton repeatedly returns to throughout his works — will be shown, and there’ll be the black-and-white striped dress from 1999’s Sleepy Hollow and worn by Christina Ricci.
It’s not just costumes though as at the exhibition’s core will be hundreds of Tim Burton’s expressionistic sketches and drawings that he has prolifically produced since childhood. These works depict everything from individual characters to whole environments and are always the first step in Burton’s creative process to build the fantastical worlds in each of his films.
Through these drawings, visitors will see some of the earliest incarnations of much-loved and recognised characters such as the Martians from Mars Attacks! (1996), the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Emily from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005). Nearly all of these drawings will be making their first ever public display in the UK.
These original artworks will be placed directly alongside costumes, props, and set pieces from the movies they ultimately featured in, charting the journey characters and worlds have taken from Burton’s imagination to cinematic reality.
For example, Colleen Atwood’s instantly-recognisable costume for Edward Scissorhands — as worn by actor Johnny Depp in the 1990 film — which will be seen with Bo Welch's set design models for the movie, Stan Winston’s infamous scissor hands, and seven of Burton’s earliest sketches of the character.
Tim Burton exhibition's world tour
The exhibition comes to London after a hugely successful decade-long world tour that has seen it visit 14 cities in 11 countries since 2014.
Yet not only will this be the first and only time it will be seen in the UK, it will also be the very final time the exhibition will be staged.
For this very special homecoming — to Tim Burton’s adopted home city where he has lived for decades — it’s been specially adapted, expanded, and physically reimagined for the Design Museum.
Visitors will for the first time be able to take a deeper look at the director's work by seeing it through a design lens. With the addition of over 90 new objects to the exhibition, this iteration of the show will examine Burton’s hands-on and design-led approach to filmmaking.
On announcing details of the exhibition, Tim Burton said he initially “resisted having the exhibition in London.” But he was ultimately he was won over by the Design Museum’s vision for the show.
“They understand the art, and with the opportunity to adapt the show and highlight the way design interacts with the works, I’ve been able to view it all through an exciting new lens” he said. “Collaborating with the Design Museum for this final stop was the right choice.”
This is undoubtedly going to be a hugely popular exhibition, so thankfully tickets are available to pre-book right now. Adult tickets are priced from £19.69 to £30, with child tickets costing £9.85 to £15. Under 6s and museum members go free.
Harvey Nichols' Tim Burton Christmas window
And if it’s not enough Tim Burton for you, because the exhibition is presented in partnership with Harvey Nichols, the famous London department store will unveil a Burtonesque Christmas window display later this year. It’ll feature five unique objects from Tim Burton’s private collection, previously showcased in his exhibitions around the globe.
The World of Tim Burton — in partnership with Harvey Nichols — is at the Design Museum in London from 25 October 2024 to 21 April 2026.