What makes Tim Burton’s dark, whimsical world so compelling?

A compelling ode to Hollywood’s gothic king has arrived in London. In a new exhibition in the Design Museumvisitors can view Tim Burton’s early artwork, as well as sketches and costumes Corpse bride (2005), Beetle juice (1988), Edward Schaarhands (1990) and more.

“It’s strange to put 50 years of art and your life out there for all to see, especially when that was never the original goal,” Burton said in a statement.

Titled “The world of Tim Burton”, the show toured for years before making its final stop in London. Featuring more than 600 items, this version of the exhibition has been expanded and restructured, spotlighting Burton’s collaborations with costume, set and production designers that proved integral to his films.

Coming soon… The World of Tim Burton

Many iconic garments from costume designer Colleen Atwood can be seen, including the famous one Edward Scissorhands outfitthe hand-painted striped dress that Christina Ricci wore Sleepy Hollow (1999) and the dress Jenna Ortega wore during Netflix’s dance scene Wednesday (2022) – everything is reminiscent of Burton’s famously jagged, dark aesthetic.

“I read somewhere that if you were to describe his style using cultural vernacular references, it would be Van Gogh’s style. Starry night And Frankenstein,” Maria McLintockcurator of the exhibition in London, says CNNby Tacita Quinn. “Tim is, above all, an artist. He is not attracted to expressing reality. In fact, he would probably say, ‘What is reality anyway?’”

The exhibition meanders through Burton’s career, beginning with a section called “Suburban Beginnings,” which covers the director’s early artistic work in his home state of California. The young Burton was inspired by stop motion animationscience fiction films, gothic novels and Dr. Seuss– all clearly visible in his imaginative drawings.

“Some of the most exciting items are the most personal: teenage fan art, scribbles on napkins, notes from university lectures,” writes Catherine Spooner, a literary scholar at England’s Lancaster University, for the Conversation. “These give an impression of intimacy, of unadulterated creativity that bubbles up from a hidden source of the subconscious.”

After studying character animation at the California Institute of the Arts In the 1970s, Burton apprenticed at Disney in the early 1980s. He made a few short films, including Frankenweenie (1984), before directing his first feature film, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985). A few years later he made it big Beetle juice.

“The World of Tim Burton” highlights 18 films, with information about their inspirations, props and influence on pop culture. As McLintock says in the statement, Burton begins each film by laying out his ideas. One sketch on display shows the beginnings of the Edward Scissorhands character, with a darkly shadowed face and incomplete blade-like digits.

“The wildly imaginative etchings each offer vivid new avenues into Tim Burton’s labyrinthine mind, and reveal just how much we still don’t know about it,” writes City AM‘s Adam Bloodworth in a review. Visitors can also see artwork from projects that were never made, he adds: “It’s fascinating to pick up in your mind where Burton’s ideas were publicly blocked by film executives.”

Many of the props and drawings feature familiar Burton imagery, such as skeletons, staples, stripes and stitches. Like Jenny He, who co-curated the first Burton exhibition in New York in 2009 Museum of Modern Arttells CNN: “Stitches [seem] very macabre, but for Tim it is actually a very positive, optimistic motif, because sewing means that you can put yourself back together, no matter how many times you fall apart.”

The final part of the show showcases Burton’s creations beyond the silver screen, including books and music videos, and other artists influenced by his style, such as photographer Tim Walker. Burton’s continued widespread popularity is also evident, with 32,000 tickets sold for the exhibition earlier this month.

“For me, the Burtonesque is a process, a deep commitment to handcrafted, slower processes, where I don’t feel obliged to go for the fastest and slickest route,” McLintock tells CNN. “That’s what lingers beyond the credits – everything feels like this whole world has been so thought through.”

“The world of Tim Burton” is on display at the Design Museum in London until April 21, 2025.