The Design Museum in London is currently hosting a temporary exhibition featuring director Wes Anderson’s archive, collected over the course of his 30-year long career. Over 700 objects are being presented, ranging from original storyboards, polaroids, sketches, paintings, handwritten notebooks, puppets, miniature models, and dozens of costumes. The exhibition is arranged in chronological order of the films Anderson has created, allowing visitors to walk through his career. This structure allows viewers to observe the various inspirations behind his work, the collaborations he has undertaken, and the development of his distinctive personal style.
Starting from his early works, such as Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, the exhibition highlights Anderson’s creative partnership with Owen Wilson. You then enter the next room, which is dedicated to The Royal Tenenbaums, his first mainstream success awarding him an Academy Award nomination. On display are the elaborate costumes worn by the Tenenbaums, including the iconic Fendi fur coat worn by Gwyneth Paltrow. The next section is dedicated to The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, wherein models of the mythical aquatic animals from the story are displayed, including the crayon ponyfish, sugar crabs, and a two-meter jaguar shark. Inspired by his personal travels to India, Anderson then wrote his 2007 movie The Darjeeling Limited. This movie was famously filmed on a moving train as it travelled through the Thar Desert in India, with the exhibition featuring behind-the-scenes footage of this unique production.
After briefly dabbling in stop-motion to animate the animals in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Anderson created two entirely stop-motion films, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Isle of Dogs. Despite these movies being released almost a decade apart, the exhibition displays the props and puppets from the films together to showcase how Anderson creates his elaborate stop-motion films. Since Fantastic Mr. Fox is my favourite movie of all time, this was the portion of the exhibition I was the most excited for, and I can definitely say it did not disappoint. Rounding the corner leads you to the Moonrise Kingdom portion, which features the commissioned painting that was used for the movie poster. Just as you exit this section, you are met with the 4-meter-long pink miniature model of The Grand Budapest Hotel. As Anderson’s most decorated film, the section dedicated to this film displays extensive props and costumes, including the Mendl’s pastry box, and William Dafoe’s custom Prada black leather trench coat. The last part of the exhibition features Anderson’s most recent films The French Dispatch and Asteroid City. Finally, viewers walk past the iconic vending machines from Asteroid City to exit the exhibition.
Overall, this was a very thorough exhibition that provided insight into how Anderson’s movies came to be. I particularly enjoyed how in each section they played scenes from that film and had displays of behind-the-scene polaroid photos from filming each movie. If you get a chance to visit this exhibit I highly recommend it, but be sure to act quickly since the exhibition only lasts until July 2026!