What is David Bowie: On Tour?

David Bowie was a meticulous keeper of his own work. Costumes, lyric sheets, sketches, contact sheets, to-do lists, even post-it notes to his archive staff. Today that collection runs to more than 90,000 items, and its permanent home is the V&A East Storehouse in London.

David Bowie: On Tour takes around 100 of the best pieces from that archive out of London and around the UK. Curated by Harriet Reed, the V&A's Curator of Contemporary Performance, the exhibition forms part of a national V&A partnership bringing highlights from Bowie's archive to venues across the UK.

V&A Dundee is the first stop, in Gallery 2 on Level 2 of the museum. After Dundee, the tour moves on to Showtown in Blackpool, the Bowes Museum in County Durham, the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

It's easy to fit into a day alongside the rest of the museum and the waterfront. Keep an eye on V&A Dundee exhibitions for talks and events around the run.

What you'll see at the David Bowie exhibition

The exhibition is split into four sections, each looking at a different side of Bowie: the image, the music, the screen work and the man behind it all.

Bowie Through a Lens

Few musicians understood the camera like Bowie. This opening section looks at how photography shaped his image and identity, with work by photographers including Terry O'Neill, Mick Rock, Masayoshi Sukita and Brian Ward. Seeing their work together shows just how carefully each new persona was built.

All the Somebody People

The heart of the exhibition follows Bowie onstage and in the studio across four defining eras.

• Ziggy Stardust. Costumes by Freddie Burretti and Kansai Yamamoto, handwritten notes and tour sketches, plus a Ziggy-era acoustic guitar on public display for the first time.
• Berlin. His Berlin Trilogy with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti: Low, "Heroes" and Lodger. Look out for the keys to his apartment at Hauptstraße 155, unseen concept art for the Low cover, handwritten lyrics for "Look Back in Anger", and the koto, a Japanese stringed instrument, he played on "Moss Garden".
• Let's Dance. Studio photography and material from the album cover shoot, plus unseen lyrics and set designs for the Serious Moonlight tour, on display for the first time.
• ★ (Blackstar). His final album, told through handwritten lyrics, performance notes, props and the hand-painted costume from the "Lazarus" video.

Hooked to the Silver Screen

Bowie was as at home in front of a film camera as a stage audience, and this section proves it. There are storyboard sketches for the "Ashes to Ashes" video and the Natasha Korniloff costume he wore in it, plus unseen treatments, scripts and props for "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)".

Film fans get the clapperboard from The Man Who Fell to Earth, unseen preparation notes for Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, and the script, character notes and costume-fitting Polaroids for Jareth, the Goblin King, in Labyrinth. Some of the surprises are the best bits: his filmed introduction to The Snowman, his voice role as Lord Royal Highness in the 2007 SpongeBob SquarePants special, Atlantis SquarePantis, and a script for an episode of The Simpsons that he turned down.

I Can't Give Everything Away

The final section is the most personal. It starts with the Grafton alto saxophone his father bought him in 1961, his first instrument, and the harmonica microphone from A Reality Tour.

From there, it's a glimpse into how his mind worked: the stopwatch he used for songwriting, his 1988 British passport, an advance Velvet Underground record, handwritten to-do lists of workshops and museum visits, and charts of projects he wanted to make. One of those never happened: a synopsis for The Catastrophy Cabinet, from around 1974–75. There's even a 1977 costume inventory and fan art he kept.

Five things not to miss

Short on time? Make a beeline for these.

1. The Ziggy Stardust acoustic guitar. A Ziggy-era guitar on public display for the first time, alongside costumes by Freddie Burretti and Kansai Yamamoto.
2. The keys to his Berlin apartment. A small object with a big story: his home at Hauptstraße 155.
3. The Labyrinth Polaroids. Costume-fitting Polaroids of Bowie becoming Jareth, the Goblin King.
4. The Serious Moonlight set designs. Unseen designs and lyrics from the Let's Dance era, shown for the first time.
5. His first saxophone. The 1961 Grafton alto saxophone his father bought him, where it all started.

Tickets, prices and opening times

The exhibition runs from Wednesday 4 November 2026 to Monday 15 February 2027, daily from 10am to 5pm. It's closed on 25 and 26 December and 1 January.

A few things worth knowing before you book:

• Book ahead. Pre-booking is required for everyone, including members and free tickets, and demand is high.
• Four tickets per booking. There's a maximum of four tickets per transaction, so larger groups will need to book separately.
• 18 and under go free. That makes it an easy family day out.
• Members get in free. Individual membership starts at £28 a year and includes free entry to paid exhibitions.
• Make a day of it. Allow time for the rest of the museum and a wander along the waterfront. RRS Discovery, the ship that took Scott to the Antarctic, is moored right next door.

Book your exhibition tickets with V&A Dundee. For access information and the full FAQs, see the exhibition FAQs.

Make a weekend of it: where to stay near V&A Dundee

If you're travelling in for the exhibition, it's worth staying over. There's plenty of accommodation in Dundee, from city-centre hotels within walking distance of the V&A to seaside guesthouses in Broughty Ferry. For a quick in-and-out visit, the city centre makes sense. For a proper break, the countryside just outside the city gives you more space to unwind.

That's where we come in. Forbes of Kingennie is a family-owned country resort set in 150 acres of Angus countryside, just six miles from Dundee and around a 20-minute drive from V&A Dundee, depending on traffic. Spend the day with Bowie, then come home to the countryside.

Choose from lodges near Dundee to suit every kind of trip: Dundee lodges with hot tubs for couples, shepherd's huts and escape pods for something cosier, house boats for something different, and larger lodges for groups of friends. Every stay is self-catering, and dog-friendly lodges mean the whole clan can come along.

A Bowie weekend in Dundee

• Friday: arrive, check in, and settle in for dinner at The Scullery.
• Saturday: head into the city for the exhibition, lunch on the waterfront, then stop at Broughty Ferry on the way back for a walk along the beach to the castle.
• Sunday: a countryside walk, a round of golf or a spot of fly fishing before heading home.