The curators of “David Bowie Is” pulled material from Bowie’s personal, 75,000-piece collection and then organized the pieces by theme rather than chronology. The first section is devoted to Bowie’s early years, displaying photographs, albums and documents with the rest of the exhibition arranged around costumes, songwriting, collaborators and performance.

“David Bowie Is” is on view through Aug. 11 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.