The world's biggest museum dedicated to illustrations is coming to London, and the official opening date has been announced. The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, named after the renowned artist, will open its doors on Friday, June 25 this year. Located in a former 18th-century waterworks building in Clerkenwell, the centre spans a striking brown brick structure surrounded by gardens and cobbled terraces.
What to Expect Inside
Visitors will find three exhibition spaces, a shop, a cafe, and free-to-access library and creative studio for aspiring illustrators. The centre also includes London's oldest surviving windmill, which is being converted into a space for illustrator residencies. The £12.5 million project has been in development for over two decades, with Sir Quentin Blake establishing a charity for illustration in 2002 and a temporary space in King's Cross operating between 2014 and 2020.
Opening Exhibitions
The debut exhibition, MURUGIAH: Ever Feel Like, showcases the surreal world of British Sri-Lankan illustrator Murugiah, exploring identity and mental health through pop art-inspired cartoons. A second exhibition, Queer as Comics, gathers comics, strip cartoons, graphic novels, and zines that have explored LGBTQIA+ lives since the 1940s, featuring works from Tove Jansson to Alison Bechdel. The third space hosts Quentin Blake: Performance, using over 100 works to highlight Blake's love of theatre, including sketches for Laurence Olivier's performances and illustrations for a new edition of Macbeth.
Accessibility and Pricing
While the museum is not free, tickets are priced considerately: £16.50 for adults, £12.65 concessions, £6.60 for children, and just £1.10 for those on low incomes. This ensures that aspiring artists and low-income visitors can access the space. The centre will rotate exhibitions drawing on Blake's personal archive, which documents his career from schoolboy cartoons in the 1940s to his collections of contemporary and classic illustrations.
This is the first museum of its kind in the UK, celebrating an underappreciated art form. The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration opens on June 25, offering a vibrant space for creativity and inspiration.
