The World of Tim Burton Exhibition Will Step You Inside the Mind of a (Slightly Mad) Genius

The name Tim Burton needs no introduction to horror fans and film lovers. The American director, screenwriter, and producer is behind a long line of films, including “Edward Scissorhands,” “Beetlejuice“ and its sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “Ed Wood,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Corpse Bride,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Dark Shadows,” “Frankenweenie“ – and the list goes on. He has been active for over four decades and is known, for example, for his unique visual style, combining gothic, fantasy, and horror.

Many don’t know that, beyond being a cinematic genius, Tim Burton is also a talented artist in other fields. The exhibition “The World of Tim Burton,“ currently on display at the Design Museum in London, allows visitors to enter Burton’s rich imagination with his “non-cinematic“ works – mainly from illustration, animation, photography, painting, and writing.

What Can You Find In The World Of Tim Burton Exhibition?

The exhibition “The World of Tim Burton,“ currently at the Design Museum in London, was launched over a decade ago: in 2014, to be precise. You could have visited it in Prague, Tokyo, Osaka, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Seoul, Turin, and more. As of now, This is the exhibition’s final stop and probably the last time people in the United Kingdom can see it.

The exhibition, by and large, shows that Burton is a “multi-purpose artist.“ You will find about 500 items here, including:

• Drawings – Here, you will find drawings that Burton created as a child, influenced by classic cartoonists and illustrators such as Edward Gorey, Charles Adams (who made the Addams Family characters), Don Martin, Theodor Seuss Geisel (known as “Dr Seuss,“ as we learned in the article about his dark side), and others. You will also find some of Burton’s more recent works, which also show his development as an artist
• Photographs – both Burton’s photographs and behind-the-scenes stills and videos, which show Burton’s production, directing and creative processes
• Sketchbooks, which show, for example, the visual development process of characters from Burton’s famous films, such as “Beetlejuice“ and “Edward Scissorhands”
• Sculptural installations made in collaboration with designers and artists from around the world
• Costumes – original costumes and accessories that appeared in Burton’s films, as well as faithful reproductions
• Models and sets, including scaled-down versions and miniature sets used in Burton’s works

The various items deal with Burton’s familiar visual themes and motifs. You will also find exhibits related to his cinematic works, which, as is well known, combine a rich visual language, colorful costumes, and a variety of styles, with combinations between the Gothic world and fantasy, for example, or between darkness (and of course horror) and humor. Note that there is the possibility of trying out an Augmented Reality experience (Snap AR) before arriving at the exhibition.

The exhibition shows Burton’s style and his interesting perspective on various subjects, whether in the works he is responsible for from the beginning or in his collaborations with various artists. What stands out is the combinations he creates between man, animal, and machine, a kind of imaginative version of Dr. Frankenstein. The prominent style here is the “Carnivalesque,“ which stands out for its grotesqueness and breaking of boundaries or even prohibitions while combining comedy in a way that allows, for example, to analyze or criticize various topics in a “friendly“ way.

The exhibition shows Burton’s fondness for creating emotionally charged and melancholic characters of people (or creatures) external to society, for example, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Jack Skellington (Burton is the producer of the masterpiece “The Nightmare Before Christmas”), Frankenweenie and many others. The exhibition, and to a large extent Burton’s films, shows that he himself was influenced by several genres and styles, including the classic horror monsters of Universal Studios, expressionist cinema, Japanese monster movies (of course, the example The most notable is Godzilla), and works by thriller artists such as William Castle and Vincent Price.

Where Is The World Of Tim Burton Located?

The World of Tim Burton exhibition opened at the Design Museum in London on October 25, 2024. The current plan is to end it on May 26, 2025, although this is subject to change.

The exhibition is open to visitors during the Design Museum’s opening hours in London, usually from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM on weekdays or 6:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays. Please note that there are specific dates, especially on weekends, when the Tim Burton exhibition is open until 8:00 PM. We recommend checking the opening times in advance here.

The last admission, in each case, is one hour before closing.

Ticket And Prices

Admission to the Design Museum in London is free. However, special exhibitions like “The World of Tim Burton“ require a separate fee.

As of 2025, these are the prices:

🎟️ Adult – from £22 to £26 (if you wish to also add a donation to the museum)

🎟️ Child (ages 6-15) – from £11 to £13 (price also includes a donation to the museum). An adult must accompany children under 16

🎟️ Up to 6 years old – admission is free, and an adult must be accompanied here too.

🎟️ There are discounted tickets for families (vehicle of one adult / two adults + three children), students (upon presentation of an appropriate document), and more

Since the exhibition is very popular, we advise booking tickets in advance to avoid disappointment.

Buy Tickets on the Official Website

Is It Worth Visiting The Tim Burton Exhibition?

If you are in London and love Tim Burton or even the world of gothic horror, the Tim Burton exhibition is a must for you. It has received very positive reviews in the British press. The Independent, for example, called it “spooky, beautiful, and the exhibition of the year.“ The Telegraph described it as “‘A fantastical voyage inside the filmmaker’s mind,‘” and the Standard as “a creepy, witty and visually ravishing journey into a fantastical mind.”

The Design Museum in London is not the most well-known museum in the city – it certainly does not receive the number of visitors of big names such as the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, the National Gallery and others – but it is indeed very interesting for fans of the genre, both in terms of its permanent displays and free exhibitions. Established in 1989, it has since presented products such as graphics and digital design, fashion design, architecture and architectural structures, industrial design, and more. The museum includes exhibition spaces on several floors, permanent and temporary exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and more.

The Design Museum in London operates as a registered charity – meaning that income from the sale of tickets to exhibitions that do require a fee is intended for the maintenance of the museum and the curation of new exhibitions – and it also receives a lot of praise, as evidenced by its winning the European Museum of the Year award in 2018. Since 2016, the museum has occupied its current home in the Kensington neighborhood, moving into a building explicitly renovated for it.

Don’t Forget Tim Burton’s Labyrinth

If you’re a fan of Tim Burton and want to enter his world literally, you can do so as part of the immersive exhibition “Tim Burton’s Labyrinth.” As you can deduce from its name, the exhibition consists of a labyrinth, between the rooms which you will find various exhibits related to the world of Tim Burton, including characters from the films and other works of art that come to life with the help of technology, lights, sound, and other effects. In total, you will find more than 300 exhibits and items here, and what’s even more interesting is that the visitor makes up his route in the not-so-simple stroll through the labyrinth’s rooms (which usually lasts about an hour).

Tim Burton’s Labyrinth opened in Madrid, Spain, in September 2022. It then traveled to Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, ​​Berlin, and Milano, where it will run until March 2025. It will be in Mexico City from June 2025 to early 2026, with its following locations for 2026 to be announced soon.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save