These Are the Building Blocks of Wes Andersons Signature Visual StyleThrough quirky costumes and model hotels, a new exhibition surveys the directors unique creative visionand the work of the craftspeople who help bring it to life Anderson on set of his 2023 film Asteroid CityLa Cinmathque FranaisePicture a Wes Anderson film.Even if you havent seen one of his movies from start to finish, chances are that you know his style. Andersons rich color palettes, rigorous symmetry and idiosyncratic settings have been widely honored, parodied and recreated throughInstagram accounts,books and even anAnderson-designed cafe at Milans Fondazione Prada.By the time Andersons work reaches the silver screen, it appears effortless. But the distinctive and immersive nature of his cinematography comes from thousands of small details, all meticulously arranged, produced and captured oncelluloid film.More than 500 of the objects responsible for building Andersons signature visual languagefrom model hotels to fox puppetsare now on view at theCinmathque Franaise, a film museum and theater in Paris, as part of a retrospective of the directors work.Titled Wes Anderson: The Archives, the exhibition will be on view through July 27 before moving to the Design Museum in London in November. Props from Rushmmore, Anderson's second film Stphane Dabrowski / La Cinmathque FranaiseMore than any other, the cinema of Wes Anderson is one that deserves a true exhibition: a precious setting where the relics of the past become present, and where set design becomes mise-en-scne, Matthieu Orlan, a curator at the Cinmathque, says in astatement.A joint effort by the Cinmathque and the Design Museum, the exhibition tracks the filmmakers artistic evolution from the 1990s to the present.At first glance, at the risk of caricature, film criticJosu Morel says of Anderson in the statement, hes the dandy filmmaker par excellence.But the aim of the exhibition is to travel beyond this first glance, beyond the homage Instagram accounts and deep into the world of Anderson and his collaborators.Anderson made his debut in 1996 withBottle Rocket. After filming wrapped, he wanted to reshoot a few scenes but discovered that Columbia Pictures had already sold his props for next to nothing, as Alex Marshall writes for theNew York Times.He was determined never to repeat that mistake. Costumes worn by Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Stiller inThe Royal TenenbaumsStphane Dabrowski / La Cinmathque FranaiseStarting with 1998sRushmore, his sophomore effort, set at a prep school, Anderson began keeping track of his own props, costumes and other crucial objects.He has meticulously kept many of the props and objects that we see in this exhibition throughout his over 30-year-long career, Johanna Agerman Ross, a co-curator of the show, tells Deborah Gouffran of theAssociated Press.Visitors to the exhibition can see the preppy blue blazers and striped ties that Jason Schwartzman wore in Rushmore; the khaki suit, fur coat and red tracksuit seen inThe Royal Tenenbaums (2001); and the pale aquamarine uniforms fromThe Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004).Reunited for the first time, they represent much more than keepsakes, Orlan says in the statement. They pay witness to how they were used and conserve something of the people who made them and handled them. Objects from the TheDarjeeling LimitedStphane Dabrowski / La Cinmathque FranaiseHe cites, in particular, the model train cars forThe Darjeeling Limited (2007), which were hand-painted by Indian artists.ForThe Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Anderson commissioned British artist Michael Taylor to create afaux Renaissance painting of a boy with a golden apple.Anderson wanted the artwork to be not very funny, just a bit funny, Taylor recalled, asVices Zelly Martin reported in 2014. When the painter and the director butted heads about an element of the painting, Wes usually won.The films eponymous hotel is a centerpiece of the exhibition.Simon Weisse, part of the team of six craftspeople that took three months to build the model hotel, tells the Times that the color choice was Andersons one unyielding preference.I said, Pink? Bright pink and dark pink? No! Weisse recalls. I asked the art department to check there wasnt a mistake, but they said, Its right. Wes has chosen these colors.In the end, hes always right, Weisse adds. The Grand Budapest Hotel model Stphane Dabrowski / La Cinmathque FranaiseThrough Andersons storyboards and notebooks, the exhibition shows a method of work marked by freedom, obligated to no pre-established rules, especially not the hallmarks that Hollywood studios so often dream of, Orlan says in the statement.The retrospective also highlights the artists that help Andersons films come alive. The vision might be his, but the iconic props and products are the work of highly specialized craftspeople.What weve learned through this exhibition is the amazing amount of people involved in that work, Agerman Ross tells the AP.She cites Andersons two stop-motion films,Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) andIsle of Dogs (2018), as examples of this creative relationship. Its the people that are making the puppets, but its also the people that are even posing the puppets, she explains. Puppets fromFantastic Mr. Fox, Anderson's first stop-motion film Stphane Dabrowski / La Cinmathque FranaiseIn both films, the director insisted on using real animal fibers for the puppets. Although the hairs were nearly impossible to pose and control, the creative choice gave the models a dynamic, swishing appearance that totally changed the look of stop-motion films,Andy Gent, a model maker who has worked with Anderson on seven films, tells the Times. It was amazing fun.Wes Anderson: The Archives will be on view at the Cinmathque Franaise in Paris through July 27, 2025. It will then travel to the Design Museum in London, where it will be on display from November 14, 2025 to July 26, 2026. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.