The Royal Academy is delighted to announce that it will reopen to Friends of the Royal Academy on Thursday 9 July and to the public on Thursday 16 July. The RA has been closed for nearly 4 months due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Royal Academy of Arts announced today that Cathie Pilkington RA has been elected as the new Keeper of the Royal Academy. Pilkington was elected as a Royal Academician in 2014 and served as Professor of Sculpture from 2015-19.

The Royal Academy’s doors may be closed, but art-lovers can still experience a range of innovative online content and activity from the RA’s exhibitions, artists and architects.

Across its award-winning website and social media platforms, the RA is sharing video exhibition tours, interviews and highlights; fun family activities; the voices of the RA’s artists and architects; revisiting popular events and discussions; encouraging the nation to get its paint and pencils out; and offering creative inspiration for new ways of working and connecting.

Cristina Iglesias is awarded the 2020 Royal Academy Architecture Prize and finalists for the Royal Academy Dorfman Award announced.

The Royal Academy of Arts announced today that Rebecca Salter has been elected the 27th President of the Royal Academy. She succeeds Christopher Le Brun PPRA who has stepped down after serving eight years in the role.

Salter was elected by her fellow Royal Academicians at a General Assembly meeting. Her appointment has received formal approval from Her Majesty The Queen. Salter is the first female President in the Royal Academy’s 251-year history.

Following the temporary closure of the Royal Academy of Arts due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the exhibition programme for the remainder of 2020 has changed.

Online

The Young Artists’ Summer Show is now in its second year at the Royal Academy of Arts: online in July 2020 and on-site later in the year. Supported by philanthropist Robin Hambro, it is open to all primary and secondary level students aged 5-19 (key stages 1-5) in the UK and those attending British International Schools. It provides a platform for the high quality and wide range of work produced by students, an opportunity to champion the importance of art in education and to celebrate the teachers who are fostering creativity in young people.

The Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries

Gauguin and the Impressionists: Masterpieces from the Ordrupgaard Collection will showcase 60 works drawn from one of the finest collections of Impressionist paintings in northern Europe, assembled in the first decades of the twentieth century by wealthy Danish couple Wilhelm and Henny Hansen.

The Jillian and Arthur M. Sackler Wing of Galleries

In February 2020, the Royal Academy of Arts will present the first major exhibition of Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert (1881–1946) to be held in the UK. Bringing together around 80 works drawn from public and private collections across Belgium, France, Great Britain and the USA, the exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to discover this intriguing, singular artist who left an indelible mark on the twentieth century art of Belgium.

Main Galleries

In January 2020, the Royal Academy of Arts will present Picasso and Paper, the most comprehensive exhibition devoted to Picasso’s imaginative and original uses of paper ever to be held. Bringing together over 300 works and encompassing Picasso’s entire prolific 80-year career, this ground-breaking exhibition will focus on the myriad ways in which the artist worked both on and with paper, and will offer new insights into his creative spirit and working methods.

Main Galleries

The Summer Exhibition is the world’s largest open submission contemporary art show and has been held every year without interruption since 1769, even throughout the war years. This year Jane and Louise Wilson RA will co-ordinate the Summer Exhibition, the first time it will be curated by an artistic duo.