Guillermo del Toro is one of the most inventive filmmakers working today, who’s films Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pacific Rim, and Crimson Peak reinvented the genres of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.

Now, the director has unleashed an exhibition at LACMA that takes us inside his imagination. Guillermo del Toro: At Home with the Monsters is a beautiful and macabre journey through the lucid dreams and childhood experiences that inspired his work, alongside a collection of grotesque, creepy, strange, and fantastical objects, paintings, charcoal drawings, insects, and artefacts relating to horror and the occult, as well as a selection of costuming, props, and concept art from his work.

“Rather than a traditional chronology or filmography, the exhibition is organized thematically, beginning with visions of death and the afterlife; continuing through explorations of magic, occultism, horror, and monsters; and concluding with representations of innocence and redemption.”

+ Portrait of Guillermo del Toro at Bleak House. Photo by Josh White, courtesy of LACMA

Guillermo del Toro’s LA home, which he calls ‘Bleak House’ features art and collectibles , as well as comic books and dark fairy tales.

It’s a massive collection of some 500 treasures that will take you face-to-face with del Toro’s own monsters, fuelling your nightmares and inspiring creativity.

Guillermo del Toro: At Home with the Monsters is on show now inside LACMA’s Art of the Americas building. The exhibition is open to the public through to November 27, 2016.

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• Story by Ariel Katz