Articles
Exhibitions
RA Exhibitions
2 months 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
3 months 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
3 months 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
3 months 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
3 months 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
3 months 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
5 months 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
6 months ago
Late Constable Tour with Curator Anne Lyles
Explore the exhibition of late works by one of Britain’s best-loved artists.
RA Exhibitions
6 months ago
Light Lines Tour with Hélène Binet
Explore the exhibition of stunning architectural photographs.
RA Exhibitions
6 months 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
6 months 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
7 months 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
7 months 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
7 months 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
8 months ago
9 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 253 years. Here are some of our favourite moments!
RA Exhibitions
8 months 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
9 months 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
9 months 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
11 months 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
1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
> 1 year 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
< 2 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
< 2 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
< 2 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
> 2 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
> 2 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
< 3 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
3 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
4 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
4 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
5 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
6 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
> 7 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.
Opinion
> 7 years ago
Art sales at the RA: painting and printmaking
Painting and printmaking often feed into each other, as the first in a series of RA selling shows reveals.
Artists
< 8 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.
RA Exhibitions
< 8 years ago
Intercontinental connections
Artist John Carter RA explains how his work resonates with Buenos Aires artists in ‘Radical Geometry’.
Opinion
< 8 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
< 8 years ago
An introduction to the 246th Summer Exhibition by Cornelia Parker RA
Cornelia Parker RA explains what’s different about this year’s Summer Exhibition and the inspiration behind her ‘Black and White’ themed room.
RA Exhibitions
< 8 years ago
Curator’s picks: Renaissance Impressions
As the exhibition comes to an end this weekend, curator Arturo Galansino selects his favourite works in the show.
RA Exhibitions
< 8 years ago
Looking good on paper
How does the RA ensure the works of art it borrows remain in exemplary condition? Eleanor Mills charts the conservation challenges of bringing the woodcut prints in ‘Renaissance Impressions’ to the UK.
RA Exhibitions
8 years ago
An introduction to ‘Radical Geometry’
This summer the RA presents an exhibition of some of the most exciting geometric abstract art ever made.
Opinion
8 years ago
Geometry at the limit
As the RA prepares for an exhibition of 20th Century geometric abstraction in Latin America, a recent show in Buenos Aires reveals its legacy lives on.
Inside the Academy
8 years ago
Teenage kicks at the RA
Great news for families and young people! As of early June 2014, we are extending our offer of free admission to all exhibitions here at the RA to children aged 15 and under.
RA Exhibitions
8 years ago
Summer Exhibition 2014: Judging
In the second of our behind-the-scenes videos about the RA Summer Exhibition 2014, we take a look at the judging process and speak to the exhibition’s coordinator Hughie O‘Donoghue RA.
RA Exhibitions
8 years ago
Artists submit their work for the Summer Exhibition
In the first of our behind-the-scenes videos about the RA Summer Exhibition 2014, we speak to some of the artists submitting their work.
RA Exhibitions
8 years ago
Lynn Chadwick sculptures go on display
A group of sculptures by Lynn Chadwick RA (1914 - 2003) has been installed in the Royal Academy’s Annenberg Courtyard, as part of celebrations to make the centenary of his birth.
RA Exhibitions
8 years ago
Premiums: Meet the artists
Meet some of the RA Schools students exhibiting in this year’s ‘Premiums: Interim Projects’
RA Exhibitions
8 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.
RA Exhibitions
> 8 years ago
Hide and seek
Certain exhibitions are especially rewarding to put together, and ‘Norman Stevens ARA: Selected Prints’ is definitely one of them. Not only has the project had close input from the artist’s family and friends, but it also feels long overdue.
Opinion
> 8 years ago
The hottest tickets for 2014
London plays host to some giants of the art world over the next year. The Chairman of the RA’s Exhibition Committee, Stephen Farthing RA, picks his top five upcoming shows and celebrates innovations born of great skill and maturity.
Opinion
> 8 years ago
Lest we forget
Two new exhibitions of war art provide grave testament to the extent of human tragedy in world conflict.
Inside the Academy
9 years ago
Houghton Hall: Return journey
Sir Robert Walpole’s priceless 18th-century collection returns to Houghton Hall