Exhibition: Escape to Moominvalley & Rainbow Path
Photo: Tove Jansson and the cat Psipsina in her Helsinki studio, 1962 Photo: Finnish Heritage Agency
The Architecture & Design Museum’s new main exhibition Escape to Moominvalley opens on 10 October 2025, highlighting the global celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Moomin stories. The beloved Moomins, created by Finnish artist and author Tove Jansson (1914–2001), have become cultural icons in Finland and beyond. Jansson originally envisioned Moominvalley as a safe haven in turbulent times. Escape to Moominvalley explores how Jansson perceived architecture and design in her own life and how these elements are reflected in the stories of Moominvalley.
Escape to Moominvalley: Reflecting Reality Through Tove Jansson’s Imaginary World
The exhibition takes a fresh look at the connections between Jansson, the Moomins, architecture, and design. The journey begins with places and landscapes close to Jansson’s heart, before leading visitors into the imaginative spaces of Moominvalley. The exhibition reveals how places central to Jansson’s life, such as her Helsinki Atelier home and the remote summer island Klovharun, shaped her creative world. Through archived materials, personal objects, and photographs, visitors can step into these spaces and experience Jansson’s persona.
At the heart of the exhibition lies a reimagined Moominvalley where the stories’ environments are viewed through the perspectives of their inhabitants. What does “shared space” encompass in the context of the Moomin family’s bath house, a building ultimately claimed by Too-Ticky and the invisible shrews during the winter?
Moominvalley as Refuge
Jansson’s stories often reflect the turbulent reality of their time. She began writing them during World War II, amidst the bombings of Helsinki. Her first Moomin story, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945), tells the tale of a family scattered by disaster searching for shelter, eventually finding a home and safety in Moominvalley. For Jansson herself, Moominvalley became a personal refuge.
In the same spirit, Escape to Moominvalley offers visitors both shelter from autumn storms and a mirror to the upheavals of the real world. Themes drawn from the Moomin stories, such as home and homelessness, solitude and community, safety and insecurity, present timely questions about the potential significance of Moominvalley and Jansson’s relationship to spaces for our modern times. In addition, the exhibition showcases contemporary approaches by designers and architects who explore the themes of survival, shelter, community, and resilience.
The exhibition is organised in collaboration with Moomin Characters.
Rainbow Path: Escape to Moominvalley
The Rainbow Path is a norm-critical path within the Escape to Moominvalley exhibition. It explores the diversity of gender and sexuality through the lens of Tove Jansson’s life and art. The Rainbow Path creates space for interpretation and personal reflection: how do spaces, objects, and cultural ideals shape identity, and what meanings might they carry from a queer perspective? The path does not offer ready-made answers but invites visitors to view the exhibition differently – with curiosity, empathy, and an appreciation for diversity. The Rainbow Path is available as a printed booklet at the museum. The booklet can be borrowed free of charge during the museum visit. The contents of the Rainbow Path are also available in text format on this website.
Accessibility and safer space
Architecture and design belongs to everyone. We at the Architecture and Design Museum want everyone to have the opportunity to have a safe museum experience and participate as themselves, without fear of discrimination or harassment. Read more about our principles for a safer space.
The Architecture and Design Museum is accessible. Read more about accessibility.