Ashmolean Museum to Exhibit Radiohead Album Art and Related Works

The prestigious Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is set to host an exhibition featuring artwork created for the rock band Radiohead. This multi-media exhibition will showcase album covers and additional works by artist Stanley Donwood, alongside contributions from the band’s singer, Thom Yorke. According to the museum, personal sketchbooks and notebooks, previously unseen by the public, will also be featured in the display, running from August 2025 through January 2026. Radiohead originated at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire in 1985 and is recognized for popular songs including Creep, Paranoid Android, and No Surprises. Comprising over 120 pieces, the exhibition is titled “This Is What You Get,” a phrase derived from a lyric in the band’s song “Karma Police.” The Ashmolean, which serves as the University of Oxford’s Museum of Art and Archaeology, stated that the exhibition aims to “explore the complex relationship between visual art and music.” Donwood, known by his birth name Dan Rickwood, has been responsible for the majority of Radiohead’s cover art, in addition to contributing to Yorke’s other musical endeavors. Their collaboration began after they met at the University of Exeter. Regarding his personal artwork, Yorke previously informed the BBC, stating: “Dan is basically deft at pulling stuff out of my head in a way that just blows my mind in all different directions.” In 2001, Donwood received a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package for his limited edition CD case design for the Radiohead album “Amnesiac,” which ingeniously transformed it into a lost library book.