The Ashmolean Museum features This Is What You Get, the first large-scale institutional exhibition dedicated to the visual art of Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke, running until 11 January 2026. The show brings together over 180 works spanning three decades: from original album paintings and digital compositions to unpublished sketches, notebooks, and lyric sheets, offering a rare glimpse into the creative partnership behind one of the most influential bands of the past 30 years.

Yorke and Donwood first crossed paths at Exeter University in the late 1980s, bonding over English literature and fine art. Their collaboration began in earnest in 1994 with the single My Iron Lung and Radiohead’s second album, The Bends. Early experiments combined photography, painting, and digital manipulation, producing the now-iconic pixelated imagery that perfectly captured the band’s uncanny, distorted sound. Over time, the duo expanded their visual language to include large-scale paintings, etchings, and multimedia projects, maintaining complete control over the visual identity of Radiohead’s music.

The exhibition is organised chronologically, tracing their evolving practice, album by album. It opens with the entire collection of albums created by both visionary artists. Visitors see early technological experiments such as the OK Computer artwork, created without ever using “undo,” alongside later paintings influenced by war photography, environmental disasters, and immersive landscapes. Donwood’s linocut for Yorke’s solo debut, The Eraser (2006), depicts London landmarks engulfed by a colossal wave, inspired by the Boscastle flood, while The King of Limbs (2011) draws on ancient woodlands, creating meditative, otherworldly landscapes.

Unpublished notebooks and sketches reveal the painstaking process behind Yorke’s lyrics and Donwood’s art, while recent works, including paintings for The Smile’s A Light for Attracting Attention (2022) and Wall of Eyes (2024), show the duo experimenting with vibrant, optimistic compositions and tapestries produced in Brussels.

“This Is What You Get, a line from Radiohead’s Karma Police, captures Stanley and Thom’s approach: direct, poetic, dark, and sometimes comic,” says Dr Lena Fritsch, exhibition curator. “The show illuminates the symbiotic relationship between music and visual art, revealing the imagination behind some of the most recognisable imagery in contemporary culture.”

For fans of Radiohead and contemporary art alike, This Is What You Get offers a rare, intimate look at the creative forces behind a band whose music and visuals have defined generations. It’s a fascinating exhibition that deserves everyone’s attention.