The Garden Museum explores the lush, theatrical realm of Cecil Beaton’s Garden Party, the first major exhibition devoted entirely to how gardens and flowers shaped the creative life of Sir Cecil Beaton. Running until 21 September 2025, this show is curated by Emma House and styled by designer-artist Luke Edward Hall, whose installation design conjures the dreamy spirit of Wiltshire’s country gardens inside the museum.

As Beaton himself confidently observed in 1979: “My garden is the greatest joy of my life, after my friends. Both are worth living for.” His gardens were not mere pastimes but creative engines powering his portraits, fashion shoots, dances, and pages of his ever-present diaries. The exhibition captures that very spirit, a celebration of beauty rooted in floral fascination.

Photographs, paintings, drawings, and designs for costumes and sets reveal how flowers were central to Cecil Beaton’s artistic vision, from the extravagant floral arrangements he crafted for high-society gatherings using blooms from his own gardens, to the fresh and painted flowers that framed his iconic fashion photographs and royal portraits, and the unforgettable floral costumes of My Fair Lady.

Luke Edward Hall has transformed the museum into a richly theatrical environment, drawing on Beaton’s distinctive aesthetic. The space is adorned with wall murals, paper flower installations, and imaginative materials such as cellophane and kitchen foil, echoing the playful textures of Beaton’s early photographic sets. Visitors are immersed in a world where the artist’s floral fantasies bloom in every corner.