Tove Jansson and her Families

Tove Jansson and her Families opens at the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration on 21 November 2026, and it's a bit of a milestone for the city. It's the UK's first exhibition to show her original work in almost a decade, and the first to focus on her solely as an illustrator rather than as the author of the Moomins. The show runs until 9 May 2027, Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm.

Most of us know Tove Jansson as the creator of the Moomins, but this exhibition looks at the people who shaped her life and work, with family and chosen family at the centre. It gathers previously unseen drawings and more than 100 rarely shown sketches, paintings, illustrations and photographs. Among them are original pieces showing the Moomins' origins, scraps from the first published Moomin book, and a large-scale public mural she created to help rebuild post-war Finland, shown in the UK for the first time. Co-curator Paul Gravett notes that the Moomin cast drew intimately from her family, friends and lovers in Helsinki's cultural circles and lesbian community: her mother, Signe Hammarsten Jansson, was Finland's first professional stamp designer, and her father, Viktor, a sculptor.

The venue itself is worth a mention. The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration opened in June 2026 in a restored waterworks at New River Head, and it's the UK's only charity dedicated entirely to illustration. It's located at 1 Myddelton Passage, London EC1R 1AG. Tickets are £15 for adults, with concessions available, and that covers entry to all exhibitions on site. Members go free and get priority booking. If you've always known Jansson through the books, this is a chance to see the actual work she left behind.