Tove Jansson’s first illustration of the Moomin House is the highlight of the Moomin Museum’s renewed main exhibition

The earliest known Moomin House illustration is an ink wash from Tove Jansson’s first Moomin novel, The Moomins and the Great Flood, from 1945. At the end of the story, Moomintroll, Moominpappa, Moominmamma and Sniff have arrived in the lush, exotic Moominvalley after a great adventure and a devastating flood. The flood has also swept the blue, round, turreted Moomin house, built with Moominpappa’s own hands, to the Moominvalley. The Moomin House will become the base and heart of the stories that follow.

The renewed main exhibition includes drawings, ink washes and watercolours from all of Tove Jansson’s Moomin books, their various editions or translations. Also on display are first editions of the Moomin books and cover illustrations in various languages. The narrative of the Moomin exhibition continues to follow the story of the books, chronologically from the building of the Moomin House to the events of Moominvalley in November in the last novel. The Moomin Museum’s main exhibition is renewed every three years.

The Moomin Museum’s new illustrations also showcase Tove Jansson’s working style and drawing techniques. Alongside the captivating Moomin adventures, the focus will be on small atmospheric and detailed images from the stories, the opening and closing pictures from the chapters of the books, floral wreaths and maps of Moominvalley. The illustrations in the exhibition chart the evolution of Tove Jansson’s techniques from early ink washes to fine-line and detailed drawings.

The reopening of the Moomin Museum will be celebrated with an event day on Saturday 21 September. The celebrations will continue next year with the Moomin 80 anniversary, marking the 80th anniversary of the publication of Tove Jansson’s first Moomin book.