Articles
Exhibitions
RA Recommends
11 months ago
The great art quiz of 2023
Have you been paying attention to art news this year? Put your knowledge to the test with our art quiz of 2023.
RA Exhibitions
> 1 year ago
Introducing our 2024 exhibitions
From Ukranian modernism and Renaissance masters to a landmark decolonial show, we can reveal our stellar programme for next year.
RA Exhibitions
> 1 year ago
10 stories behind the objects in ‘Spain and the Hispanic World’
Our landmark exhibition draws together 4,000 years of rich and surprising histories from the Spanish-speaking world, through 150 crafted, painted, woven, and sculpted objects. Here are some not to miss.
RA Exhibitions
< 2 years ago
Start here: Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers
Before you visit our latest exhibition, find out about the unique artistic traditions the artists in ‘Souls Grown Deep like the Rivers’ forged and the enormous social and economic challenges they confronted.
RA Exhibitions
< 2 years ago
10 artists you need to know in the Spain and the Hispanic World exhibition
With over 150 treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library’s collection to discover, get to know some of the artists in our new exhibition.
RA Recommends
< 2 years ago
The great art quiz of 2022
Some say it’s a tradition older than Father Christmas, others say it started in 2015. We may never know… But it’s here, our annual art quiz of the year! Time to test your recollection of what happened in the art world in 2022.
RA Exhibitions
2 years ago
10 works to know by William Kentridge
With William Kentridge filling our Main Galleries with his immersive, spectacular work, here we take a closer look at 10 artworks by the visionary South African artist.
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Milton Avery: conversations with colour
As the RA mounts the first major survey show of American artist Milton Avery in Europe, Kelly Grovier traces his career – from his artistic roots in American Impressionism to kinship with Abstract Expressionists including Mark Rothko – and Avery’s lifelong obsession with colour.
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Nine eyebrow-raising moments from the Summer Exhibition
From the time we rejected Banksy to Turner’s “gunshot in the gallery”, the Summer Exhibition has regularly ruffled the feathers of British art in its 254 years. Here are some of our favourite moments!
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Introducing our 2023 exhibitions
From rare treasures created in Spain and the Hispanic world, to re-performances of Marina Abramović’s best-known works, our 2023 programme gives everyone something to look forward to.
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Francis Bacon: “I’m always labelled with horror”
Listen to Francis Bacon talk about how he paints and how his images form.
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Who was Whistler’s Woman in White?
Take a tour of the exhibition ‘Whistler’s Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan’ with its curators, and delve into the life of the artist’s principal model.
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Kawanabe Kyōsai: the demon with a brush
Kyōsai blurred the divide between the popular and elite art of 19th-century Japan. Christopher Harding introduces the master of satirical and traditional painting as a rare collection of Kyōsai’s art comes to the RA.
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Quiz: which artist are you?
Are you the sort who goes to a calligraphy party and comes home with a raging hangover, or are you more likely to nip down the road for a seance with friends?
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
Jock McFadyen RA: postcards from a post-apocalyptic future
Far from evoking the past, Jock McFadyen RA’s eerie paintings imagine a dystopian future, writes Matthew Beaumont, as he prepares to meet the artist for his RA show, ‘Tourist without a Guidebook’.
RA Exhibitions
> 2 years ago
“To be a good model, you have to give yourself up”: Celia Paul on Joanna Hiffernan and sitting for Lucian Freud
Ahead of our exhibition exploring James McNeill Whistler and Joanna Hiffernan’s relationship, Celia Paul, artist and sitter for Lucian Freud, meditates on what it takes to be painted.
RA Recommends
< 3 years ago
The great art quiz of 2021
Gather round, art lovers – because it’s time for our annual art-related quizzing! Play with the family, test your know-it-all neighbours, or just take the blimmin’ thing right now!
RA Exhibitions
< 3 years ago
Late Constable Tour with Curator Anne Lyles
Explore the exhibition of late works by one of Britain’s best-loved artists.
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Light Lines Tour with Hélène Binet
Explore the exhibition of stunning architectural photographs.
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Five works to know in the 2021 Summer Exhibition
We enlisted art historian and founder of @ablackhistoryofart, Alayo Akinkugbe, to uncover five gems in this year’s show that capture Yinka Shonibare RA’s vision to ‘Reclaim Magic’.
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
The truth in Francis Bacon’s work
Ahead of the exhibition ‘Francis Bacon: Man and Beast’ Jenny Saville RA reflects on the profound impact Bacon has had on her life and work.
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
John Constable’s last decade
Constable didn’t know he was entering his ‘late’ period, but in the last ten years of his life he sought truth in nature, and created landscapes infused with timeless imagination.
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Step inside Hélène Binet’s London studio
We meet the photographer in her studio to discuss her upcoming exhibition ‘Light Lines’, her love of music, and her ability to ‘draw’ with light.
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Hélène Binet’s otherworldly photographs
As Hélène Binet’s enigmatic photographs of buildings go on show at the RA, Fiona Maddocks asks the artist about the meeting between light and line, and mood and memory in her works.
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Inside the Summer Exhibition 2021 with Yinka Shonibare RA
Summer Exhibition coordinator Yinka Shonibare RA explains his vision for this year’s show
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Video: painting on Lubugo bark cloth
Artist Michael Armitage paints on a material called Lubugo, which is made by the Baganda people of southern Uganda. Discover how Lubugo’s crafted, and how Armitage incorporates its imperfections into his work.
RA Exhibitions
3 years ago
Francis Bacon to Women Modernists: introducing our 2022 exhibitions
From Francis Bacon’s eerie reflections on man and beast, to South Africa’s most celebrated living artist William Kentridge, our 2022 programme gives everyone something to look forward to.
RA Exhibitions
> 3 years ago
Inside the exhibition: ‘Michael Armitage: Paradise Edict’
Join Michael Armitage as he introduces his works exploring paradise, the 2017 Kenyan Elections and a selection of East African artists who have informed his own practice.
RA Exhibitions
> 3 years ago
Hockney to Constable: introducing our 2021 exhibitions
From David Hockney’s joyous springtime works, to the exciting new force in painting, Michael Armitage, our updated 2021 programme gives everyone something to look forward to.
RA Exhibitions
< 4 years ago
Virtual tour – Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul
Explore the dark territories and raw emotions distilled in the artworks of Tracey Emin and Edvard Munch in this virtual tour of our landmark exhibition.
RA Recommends
< 4 years ago
The great art quiz of 2020
It’s been a challenging and eventful year for everything, let alone art — have you been paying attention, or wrapped under a duvet watching Netflix?
RA Exhibitions
< 4 years ago
Inside the exhibition: ‘Tracey Emin / Edvard Munch: The Loneliness of the Soul’
Join Tracey Emin RA as she introduces her selection of masterpieces by Edvard Munch alongside her own works.
RA Exhibitions
< 4 years ago
Tracey Emin’s lifelong affinity with Edvard Munch
As the Royal Academy brings Tracey Emin and Edvard Munch’s work together, Jennifer Higgie, host of ‘Bow Down: Women in Art History’ podcast, asks Emin what makes them kindred spirits.
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
10 works on grief and loneliness by Tracey Emin and Edvard Munch
From ‘My Bed’ to ‘The Scream’, Tracey Emin and Edvard Munch are two artists who are able to distill pure, raw emotion into their works. Here are 10 that encapsulate those feelings of anxiety, grief and loneliness.
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
Revisiting the exhibition: Antony Gormley
Six tonnes of steel mesh, a gallery flooded with seawater, a body you could walk through and an experience like no other. Relive our 2019 Antony Gormley exhibition with behind-the-scenes videos, inspiration from the man himself and works from the show.
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
In 60 seconds: Sarah Gillespie’s ‘White Plume Moth’
See how artist Sarah Gillespie turns drawings of drowsy moths into beautiful mezzotint prints – raising awareness of a species that is often overlooked.
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
Virtual tour: Summer Exhibition 2020
Explore the first ever winter Summer Exhibition like never before and discover a myriad of works by household names and emerging artists inside this virtual tour.
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
Inside the Summer Exhibition 2020 with Jane and Louise Wilson RA
Join coordinators Jane and Louise Wilson RA as they introduce the 252nd Summer Exhibition and discuss the challenges of putting it all together during a pandemic.
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
Watch Anne Desmet RA create ‘Wood Engraver’s Tower’
Learn the story behind Anne Desmet RA’s engraving, which commemorates the centenary year of the Society of Wood Engravers and features in this year’s Summer Exhibition.
RA Exhibitions
4 years ago
The enduring appeal of Impressionism
In bustling Parisian street scenes, windswept seascapes and shimmering portraits, the Impressionists sought immediacy in their art. Writer Deborah Levy finds their approach as radical today as ever, in the masterpieces on show from the Ordrupgaard Collection.
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
Two women artists who broke into the boys’ club
How do you succeed as an artist in 19th-century Paris when male social circles are closed to you? Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzalès are two women artists who found a way.
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
Inside the exhibition: Gauguin and the Impressionists
Join curator, Anna Ferrari, as she introduces Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces of the Ordrupgaard Collection, including works by Manet, Pissarro, Degas and Morisot coming to the UK for the first time.
RA Exhibitions
> 4 years ago
From Manet to Morisot: 10 Impressionist paintings coming to the UK for the first time
Wilhelm Hansen scoured 20th-century Paris collecting Impressionist paintings – even buying one from his dentist. Now, these paintings are coming to the UK for the first time in Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces from the Ordrupgaard Collection.
RA Exhibitions
< 5 years ago
Video: watch Picasso make a masterpiece
Filmed in 1956, ‘Le Mystère Picasso’ is a documentary capturing Picasso in full creative flow. Three of the works he’s seen making in the film are now the walls of the RA, in ‘Picasso and Paper’ – watch how one of them came to be, in this short film…
RA Recommends
< 5 years ago
The great art quiz of 2019
What a year. Have you kept your paintbrush dipped in the ever-colourful palette of the art world? Or did you abandon it in the corner to get dry and crusty? Only one way to find out…
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Video: Alexa Chung at the Summer Exhibition
Join presenter and fashion designer Alexa Chung for a (very) private view of this year’s Summer Exhibition, as she picks out some of her favourite works.
RA Exhibitions
> 5 years ago
Four things to know about Phyllida Barlow’s sculpture
As the Academician’s site-specific show opens at the RA, Jon Wood explains what we gain from the pleasures and perplexities of her works.
RA Exhibitions
> 6 years ago
Behind the scenes at the 250th Summer Exhibition
What’s it like to put together the Summer Exhibition? We spoke to this year’s coordinator, Grayson Perry RA, and his band of fellow artists in charge of selecting and hanging the world’s largest open-submission art show.
RA Exhibitions
> 6 years ago
Monet, Hockney, Van Gogh: remember these RA blockbusters?
As our transformed campus lays the foundations for another 250 years of blockbuster art exhibitions, Artistic Director Tim Marlow takes stock of some of the RA’s most popular shows since 1768.
RA Exhibitions
> 7 years ago
In pictures: 40 years of exhibition posters
This year marks 40 years of our Friends of the RA scheme, and 40 years of the exhibitions they’ve visited. As a display of posters goes on show as part of Friends Week, here’s a reminder of just a few – and an invitation to vote for your favourites!
RA Exhibitions
> 8 years ago
The director who designs blockbuster exhibitions
Meet Robert Carsen, the leading opera and theatre director who designed our exhibition Painting the Modern Garden.
Artists
< 10 years ago
The story behind John Singer Sargent RA’s ‘Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose’
With an exhibition of paintings by John Singer Sargent at the National Portrait Gallery, we take a look at one of this Royal Academician’s most famous works.
Artists
> 10 years ago
Ed Ruscha remembers Dennis Hopper
As the RA prepares for ‘Dennis Hopper: The Lost Album’, Honorary Royal Academician Ed Ruscha reflects on his friendship with the legendary actor, director and photographer in 1960s Los Angeles and beyond.
Opinion
> 10 years ago
Think pink: Franz West at The Hepworth Wakefield
The multiple meanings of West’s witty sculptures are unravelled at The Hepworth Wakefield this summer.
RA Exhibitions
> 10 years ago
Seeing scents
Fragrance designer Jo Malone has a nose for architecture as well as scent, as we discovered on a visit Kengo Kuma’s aromatic installation in our ‘Sensing Spaces’ exhibition.