An exhibition celebrating David Bowie’s career has become the Victoria & Albert Museum’s fastest-selling event.
More than 300 objects spanning his 50-year in showbusiness have been brought together for the first time, including hand-written lyrics, costumes, photographs, film, music videos, set designs and album artwork.
The museum in South Kensington, London, has been given unprecedented access to the David Bowie Archive for the exhibition, which opens this weekend and runs until August 11.
It showcases seminal items such as the Ziggy Stardust bodysuits from 1972 designed by Freddie Burretti, music videos such as Boys Keep Swinging and set designs created for the Diamond Dogs tour in 1974.
Never-before-seen personal items such as story boards, Bowie’s own sketches, musical scores and diary entries, as well as hand-written set lists and lyrics with be on public show for the first time.
While Bowie himself was not directly involved in the exhibition, curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh trawled through the vast archive to produce the first retrospective of the star’s career to date.
The exhibition is already the V&A’s fastest selling on pre-sale tickets alone.
A spokeswoman for the museum said: “We have sold over 47,000 tickets for the exhibition. It is the most pre-sale tickets that we have ever recorded for an exhibition.”
Three years in the making, it has coincided with The Next Day, Bowie’s first number one album since 1993’s Black Tie White Noise, although this was not planned.
The exhibition features 60 stage costumes, including Kansai Yamamoto’s designs for the Aladdin Sane tour of 1973 and a Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the 1997 Earthling Album cover.
In January, Bowie released the surprise single Where Are We Now? to coincide with his 66th birthday.
A critically acclaimed video was released for the second single, The Stars (Are Out Tonight), co-starring English actress Tilda Swinton.
His new album, The Next Day, went straight to number one on iTunes when it was released.