An exploration of Cecil Beaton’s passion for gardens and flowers and the inspiration they provided him in his work.
Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party exhibition will be on display at the Garden Museum from14th May until 21st September 2025.
Best known for his iconic and glamorous fashion photography, Sir Cecil Beaton had a bouquet of creative talents: he was also an accomplished costume and set designer for film, theatre and ballet; a gifted painter and illustrator; and in 1937 he was appointed court photographer to the British Royal Family. Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party will be the first exhibition to examine the common thread weaving through all aspects of Beaton’s artistic work: gardens and flowers.
Tracing Beaton’s horticultural journey through his gardens at Ashcombe House and Reddish House in Wiltshire, the exhibition will comprise photographs, paintings, drawings, costume and set design, many of which have never been publicly displayed before. It will include Beaton’s personal diaries, photographs of friends and family gathering in his gardens, opera and ballet costume sketches and dresses of his own design. It will explore the distinct role flowers played in developing his creative practice; from pioneering the use of painted and fresh flowers as backdrops for fashion photography and Royal portraits, to the famous floral costumes worn by Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964). The exhibition will also explore Beaton’s work as a designer for opera and ballet, and his long professional relationship with choreographer Frederick Ashton.
On display will be his original costume design illustrations for Ashton’s ballets Les Sirenes and Apparitions, as well as a headdress worn by ballerina Margot Fonteyn in Apparitions and a costume worn in Marguerite and Armand. As an official war photographer for the British Ministry of Information during World War Two, he became fascinated by bamboo gardens in China, which inspired his set design for the opera Turandot. Never before exhibited illustrations and a model of this design will be featured in the exhibition, on loan from the Royal Opera House.
Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party is curated by Garden Museum Curator Emma House and will be designed by artist and designer Luke Edward Hall, who has been researching Cecil Beaton’s gardens and work for many years.
Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party: 14 May 2025 - 21 September 2025
Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7LB
Tickets: Garden Museum Entry - Garden Museum
Further Information: Cecil Beaton's Garden Party - Garden Museum