Costumes, models, miniatures, paintings and notebooks: at the Design Museum in London, the major retrospective dedicated to the director
The Design Museum in London will present Wes Anderson: The Archives, the first major retrospective devoted to the career of the iconic Texan filmmaker. From 21 November 2025 to 26 July 2026, more than 700 objects from his personal archives will be on display: props, costumes, models, miniatures, paintings, notebooks, sketches and photographs that trace three decades of cinema crafted with an unparalleled attention to detail. Among the most striking pieces is the monumental pink model of the Grand Budapest Hotel, over three metres wide, used to film the hotel’s façade in the 2014 movie.
The exhibition brings together original materials from all of the director’s works: storyboards, Polaroids, sketches, stop-motion puppets and the iconic costumes worn by his most beloved characters. The museum has obtained unprecedented access to the archive Anderson has built over the years, in which he has preserved every element specifically created for his films; the majority of these objects has never been shown in the United Kingdom.
The exhibition follows a chronological order, from his early work in the 1990s to his most recent productions, beginning with Bottle Rocket (1996) and leading up to the Oscar-winning short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023). Among the most recognisable objects will be the vending machines from Asteroid City, the Fendi fur coat worn by Gwyneth Paltrow in The Royal Tenenbaums, the marine creature puppets from The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, the painting Boy with Apple, and the costumes from The Grand Budapest Hotel, along with the Team Zissou uniforms and the miniaturised worlds of Fantastic Mr Fox and Isle of Dogs. The 1993 short Bottle Rocket, starring Owen Wilson, will also be screened, and several handwritten notebooks by the director—filled with notes, sketches and ideas—will be on display.
Over the years, Anderson has collected and preserved thousands of objects from his sets: after the materials from Bottle Rocket were sold off by the production, he decided to personally keep everything created for his subsequent films, ensuring nothing would be lost. The retrospective will be accompanied by the volume Wes Anderson: The Archives, published by the Design Museum, featuring essays, interviews and previously unseen photographs. Already available in French, the English edition will be released later this year.
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