Artists
4 days ago
Family how-to: plastic bag weaving
Follow these simple instructions to make a mini loom and have a go at weaving with recycled plastic bags.
Opinion
6 days ago
In the footsteps of Hampstead’s modernists
Hampstead in the 1930s was populated with modernist artists and architects. As Caroline Maclean gives a tour of the area, look out for the reference numbers on our illustrated map below.
RA Exhibitions
9 days ago
The meteoric rise of Angelica Kauffman RA
Historian Jenny Uglow tells the story of how Angelica Kauffman became a founding Member of the RA and one of the most revered artists in Georgian Britain.
Artists
10 days ago
David Hockney: “I’ve never been mainstream. Just be yourself”
Originally released to celebrate David Hockney’s 80th birthday, filmmaker Bruno Wollheim shared 80 short films made with the artist. Now, they are being re-released daily during the Coronavirus pandemic. Watch three of them here.
Opinion
“There’s a conversation that’s gone wrong, that hasn’t been listened to.”
In 1982 Isaac Julien RA documented the suspicious killing of a black man in a London police station with Who Killed Colin Roach? After the killing of George Floyd in the USA, he questions whether anything has changed.
23 days ago
Opinion
23 days ago
Charles Jones and his vegetable portraiture
A chance find in a market unearthed a bumper crop of early photographs by Charles Jones that are now art-historical treasures. Felix Bazalgette samples the artist-gardener’s rich pickings.
Opinion
“We can’t open our doors just yet – but today we are inviting you inside.”
Jump into the Last Supper, put a masterpiece from our Collection in your own living room or take a virtual tour of our beautiful building on Google Arts & Culture.
24 days ago
Artists
25 days ago
Family how-to: redesign your street
Experiment with architectural collage and have a go at redesigning your street for future generations.
RA Exhibitions
1 month ago
Revisiting the exhibition: Sensing Spaces
In 2014, an architecture exhibition took over the Royal Academy that invited audiences not just to step inside it, but to touch it, smell it and feel it. With a curator’s introduction, a documentary from the show and interviews with the architects, we take a trip back to the monumental exhibition, ‘Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined’.
RA Exhibitions
1 month ago
Bombs, dots and rockstars: seven stories of the Summer Exhibition
From frenemy feuds to a bomb through the roof, the storylines of the Summer Exhibition could make a TV drama – so no wonder it’s often featured on screen. Here are just a few of our favourite episodes…
Artists
1 month ago
Rana Begum: “My work is a release, allowing me to feel calm.”
Rana Begum RA discusses moving studios during a pandemic, its impact on her creative process and how having the children at home has introduced some new qualities into her work.
Artists
1 month ago
Family how-to: fabric painting
Follow these easy instructions to brighten up your organic fabrics using natural, home-made dye.
Our Collection
1 month ago
7 life drawing shorts to do at home
In 2018, we hosted the world’s first-ever livestreamed life drawing class from the Royal Academy’s famous Life Room, #LifeDrawingLive. We’ll be releasing a pose from the class every fortnight, so grab a pencil and have a crack at one.
Artists
2 months ago
Author Tessa Hadley on how we carry art around in our mind
While in lockdown Tessa Hadley pays a visit to her inner National Gallery, contemplating recollections of one of her favourite Renaissance altarpieces, Jacopo Di Cioni’s ‘Coronation of the Virgin’.
Opinion
“After lockdown, there are decisions to be made. Are the arts essential, or a nice luxury?”
The latest in our ‘Artists in Isolation’ series, Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid RA shares her experience of grieving in lockdown, and explains why, when we come out of it, conversations about the value of art have never been more vital.
2 months ago
Our Collection
2 months ago
How to read it: Meredith Frampton’s Still Life
This meticulous and mysterious work by Meredith Frampton is full of contrasting symbolism. Our Collections team guide you through it in this three-minute read.
RA Recommends
2 months ago
10 novels about art you won’t put down
Every artwork tells a story. Make a cup of tea, take a seat and settle into the ten best novels inspired by art and artists, picked by us.
RA Recommends
2 months ago
Quiz: the great women artists
Do you know your Kauffman from your Emin? Test your knowledge of women artists and the Royal Academy of Arts in the The Great Women Artists quiz.
Artists
“The pandemic is giving us time to think about the kind of life we want afterwards.”
The Covid-19 pandemic may have isolated us, but for Yinka Shonibare RA it’s given him the space he needs to truly become an artist again.
2 months ago
Our Collection
2 months ago
In 60 seconds: Shonibare’s ‘Cheeky Little Astronomer’
Discover how multicultural influences fuse together to create a wider view of global inclusivity in Yinka Shonibare RA’s cheeky sculpture.
RA Exhibitions
2 months ago
Documentary: inside our Manet exhibition
Originally released in cinemas, this ‘Exhibition on Screen’ film takes you back in time to visit the Royal Academy’s 2013 ‘Manet: Portraying Life’ exhibition, one of our most visited shows of all time. Take a trip to 19th-century Paris where the story of this modern master unfolds – and peep behind the scenes at the RA, as the curators prepared to tell his story in this major show.
Our Collection
2 months ago
In 60 seconds: Hogarth’s ‘Gin Lane’ & ‘Beer Street’
Learn how a pair of engravings by satirical artist William Hogarth were used to alter the drinking habits of the British public in the 18th century.
RA Exhibitions
2 months ago
Video: inside the artists’ gardens
Join curator Ann Dumas on a tour through the gardens of Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard, Emile Nolde, Max Liebermann and Henri Le Sidaner. Filmed ahead of our 2016 exhibition, ‘Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse’, take a moment to escape to the idyllic rural wilderness.
Artists
2 months ago
Video: John Maine RA on the impact of coronavirus on his new sculpture, ‘Turning Point’
In this video from our ‘Artists in Isolation’ series, John Maine RA talks us through the process of making a huge, stone sculpture for Salisbury town centre – and what happens when lockdown lands in the middle of it.
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