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Moomin creator Tove Jansson gets her first UK illustration show
A book Jansson made by hand as a child in 1922 and the original art for the first Moomin book go on show in London this winter.
Key facts
- Tove Jansson and her Families opens on 21 November 2026 and closes on 9 May 2027
- The venue is the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in London
- Over 100 works, some of them never seen before
- Tickets go on sale on 22 September and also cover the centre's other shows
An exhibition about Moomin creator Tove Jansson opens in London on 21 November 2026. Tove Jansson and her Families runs at the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration until 9 May 2027, and tickets go on sale on 22 September.
According to the centre, no exhibition in the UK has focused on Jansson as an illustrator before. Britain has also gone almost ten years without a major show of her original art. The last one was at Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2017.
What is in the Tove Jansson exhibition
Over 100 works will be on display, from sketches to finished paintings, along with photographs. Some of the drawings have never been seen before. Pieces by artists from her creative circle hang beside her own. The show looks at how the people closest to her shaped her art, including relatives, friends and lovers in Helsinki’s artistic and lesbian communities.
From her childhood comes Prinsessan Glittergull, a book she made by hand in 1922, which has never been on public display in the UK. Her political drawings feature too. She was 15 when she began contributing illustrations to the satirical magazine Garm. During the Second World War her drawings there openly attacked fascism.
The Moomins and the Great Flood, published in 1945, was the first Moomin book. Its original artwork is shown next to material tracing how the characters developed. Rarely displayed illustrations she made for the 1966 Swedish edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland are included as well.
The London link to the Moomins
London played a big part in making the Moomins famous around the world. The Evening News began running Jansson’s Moomin comic strip in September 1954, and the strip was later syndicated internationally.
The last part of the exhibition turns to her summers in Finland’s Pellinge archipelago. She spent almost 30 of them there with her life partner, the artist Tuulikki Pietilä. The pair lived and worked in a one-room cottage on Klovharun, a tiny island without electricity or running water.
The ticket price also includes entry to the centre’s other exhibitions and displays.
Key questions
When is the Tove Jansson exhibition in London?
Tove Jansson and her Families opens at the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration on 21 November 2026 and closes on 9 May 2027.
When do tickets go on sale?
On 22 September. The ticket also covers the centre's other exhibitions and displays.
What will be on show?
Over 100 works, including the original art for the first Moomin book from 1945 and a book Jansson made by hand as a child in 1922.
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