This Is What You Get: Radiohead and Donwood's visual art to show at the Ashmolean in 2025

A groundbreaking exhibition celebrating the visual art of Radiohead and its lead singer Thom Yorke is set to open at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Titled This Is What You Get, the multimedia showcase will run from August 8, 2025, to January 11, 2026, offering visitors an in-depth exploration of the creative partnership between Yorke and artist Stanley Donwood, born Dan Rickwood.

The exhibition will feature over 120 pieces, including album covers, promotional artwork, and rare personal items such as sketchbooks and notebooks that have never been displayed publicly before. It's been said the Radiohead exhibit will "explore the complex relationship between visual art and music." This retrospective marks the first large-scale institutional presentation of their work and highlights the fusion of music and visual art that has defined Radiohead’s identity since the 1990s.

Radiohead, one of the greatest, most influential alternative rock bands, was formed in 1985 at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire. Known for chart-topping hits like "Creep," "Paranoid Android," "High and Dry," "My Iron Lung," and "No Surprises," the band has achieved global acclaim for both its experimental sound and innovative visual storytelling. Much of this visual identity was crafted by Donwood, who first collaborated with Yorke during their time at the University of Exeter.

Donwood said, "It feels like just last year we were standing in HMV in Oxford thinking about how we were going to do a record sleeve and now we’re doing a museum show in pretty much the same spot..." Their partnership officially began with the cover art for Radiohead's second album, The Bends (1995), and has continued through every album since.

More on the link between Radiohead and the artist

The title of the exhibition, This Is What You Get, draws from the lyrics of Radiohead’s song "Karma Police," emphasizing the thematic interplay of music and imagery in their work. Visitors will also gain insight into Donwood’s creative process, including his Grammy-winning design for Amnesiac (2001), which was presented as a conceptual "lost library book."

The Ashmolean Museum, a renowned center for art and archaeology at the University of Oxford, aims to explore the profound connection between visual media and sound through this exhibition. For those curious about the evolution of Radiohead’s iconic visuals, the exhibition offers an opportunity to trace the mood and themes behind the artwork of albums like OK Computer and Kid A.

Donwood himself has described his process as one often shaped by surreal and apocalyptic imagery, influenced by the music’s emotional landscapes.
To better understand what surrealism entails, André Breton defined it thusly in the Surrealist Manifesto: "Pure psychic automatism by which it is intended to express either verbally or in writing the true function of thought. Thought dictated in the absence of all control exerted by reason, and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations."

This Is What You Get promises to be a must-visit for fans of Radiohead, art enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the intersection of music and visual art.