2019 Exhibition Programme

Tennant Gallery

The Royal Academy presents British Watercolours: From the Collection of BNY Mellon in the Tennant Gallery. The exhibition presents twenty-five British watercolours and drawings, featuring works from BNY Mellon’s corporate art collection which were created in the first hundred years of the Royal Academy’s existence between 1770-1870. The exhibition marks the Royal Academy’s 250th anniversary this year.

The Sackler Wing of Galleries

2018 marks the centenary of the deaths of two of the most celebrated and pioneering figures of early twentieth-century art: Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) and Egon Schiele (1890-1918). Klimt / Schiele: Drawings from the Albertina Museum, Vienna, will be the first exhibition in the UK to focus on the fundamental importance of drawing for both artists, from the origins of their academic training to their unconventional explorations of the human figure expressed through line. For Klimt and Schiele, two of Austria’s most famous artists, drawing emerged as a highly expressive practice that was ideally suited to new ideas of modernity, subjectivity and the erotic.

Main Galleries

In January 2019, the Royal Academy of Arts will bring together the work of the pioneering video artist, Honorary Royal Academician Bill Viola (b. 1951), with drawings by Michelangelo (1475 -1564). Though working five centuries apart and in radically different media, these artists share a deep preoccupation with the nature of human experience and existence. Bill Viola / Michelangelo will create an artistic exchange between these two artists and will be a unique opportunity to see major works from Viola’s long career and some of the greatest drawings by Michelangelo, together for the first time. It will be the first exhibition at the Royal Academy largely devoted to video art and has been organised in partnership with Royal Collection Trust.

Main Galleries

The Royal Academy of Arts presents Oceania, the first ever major survey of Oceanic art to be held in the United Kingdom. This ambitious exhibition celebrates the art of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, encompassing the vast Pacific region from New Guinea to Easter Island, Hawaii to New Zealand. Oceania brings together around 200 exceptional works from public and private collections worldwide, and spans over 500 years. It is a rare opportunity to be immersed in the art and culture of an area that represents nearly a third of the world’s surface, a region rich in history, ritual and ceremony. The exhibition marks the 250th anniversary of the Royal Academy, founded in 1768, the same year Captain James Cook set sail on his first expedition to the Pacific on the Endeavour.

In autumn 2018, the Royal Academy of Arts will present an exhibition of the internationally-renowned architect and Honorary Royal Academician Renzo Piano. This will be the first comprehensive survey of Piano’s career to be held in London since 1989, and will be presented in the new Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries in Burlington Gardens, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Royal Academy.

The Royal Academy of Arts announced today that Charles Saumarez Smith, Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, has decided to step down after serving the organisation for 11 years.

This Executive Master is designed to foster a new generation of leaders who want to bring a deep understanding of culture and creativity to their industries and organisations. Its ambition is to positively shape the arts and cultural sectors by nurturing world-class leaders who can then apply their knowledge and skills to enable long-term, sustainable, ethical and innovative business practices.

The prestigious £25,000 Charles Wollaston Award has been won by Royal Academician Mike Nelson for Untitled (public sculpture for a redundant space) in the Royal Academy’s 250th Summer Exhibition. Established in 1978 and presented to the ‘most distinguished work’ in the exhibition, it is one of the most significant art prizes awarded in the UK.

On Monday 16 October 2017, the Royal Academy of Arts will welcome Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall for the first time since her appointment as the new Patron of the Royal Academy Friends. The Duke of Edinburgh passed on the patronage in 2016 after almost forty years, having been patron since the scheme was founded in 1977.

The Royal Academy of Arts announces a new and expanded public programme of events for 2018, ahead of the unveiling of its transformed campus on Saturday 19 May 2018 and as part of the celebrations of its 250th anniversary year. The new 250-seat double-height Benjamin West Lecture Theatre will become a hub for conversation and lively debate, while the Clore Learning Centre will provide a permanent home for the RA’s ambitious Learning Programme of talks and workshops for schools, families and community groups, as well as courses and classes for adult learners.

The Royal Academy of Arts in collaboration with London’s Bond Street unveil an array of art inspired windows across world-leading fashion and fine jewellery brands this summer, as part of the Royal Academy’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

For the first time, Bond Street’s windows are transformed into a series of rich and diverse art installations, celebrating the theme 250 Years of Art from 22 June - 8 July 2018, coinciding with the Royal Academy’s 250th Summer Exhibition and the Mayfair Art Weekend 29 June - 1 July 2018. Alongside the installations, Royal Academician Rose Wylie has been commissioned to create rows of flags suspended above Bond Street throughout the summer, as part of the broader celebration of 250 Years of Art in London’s West End.

The Royal Academy of Arts today announced that Itsuko Hasegawa has been awarded the 2018 Royal Academy Architecture Prize, honouring her inspiring and enduring contribution to the culture of architecture.

The first in the annual awards, supported by the Dorfman Foundation, forms part of the RA’s increased commitment to architecture and was decided by a distinguished international jury, chaired by the architect and Royal Academician Louisa Hutton. Jury members included architect Richard Rogers RA, Dean of Harvard Graduate School of Design Mohsen Mostafavi, BBC broadcaster Razia Iqbal, artist Conrad Shawcross RA and critic and curator Joseph Grima.

The Royal Academy of Arts and John Sisk & Son today revealed the newly restored 19th century façade of Burlington Gardens in a special event to celebrate a significant milestone in the RA’s transformative redevelopment. Christopher Le Brun, President of the Royal Academy and Stephen Bowcott, Chief Executive Officer of John Sisk & Son, were joined by Royal Academician sculptors Cornelia Parker and Gilbert and George, along with Blondel Cluff, Chair of the London Committee for the National Lottery, to unveil the final four statues to be restored on the building’s façade above the main entrance.

The Royal Academy of Arts today announced a generous gift from the Dorfman Foundation which will significantly transform the future of architecture at the Royal Academy. As the RA prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2018, the support from the Dorfman Foundation will enable the RA to launch two new international architecture awards, together with the restoration of the majestic Senate Rooms in Burlington Gardens to house a new architecture space and cafe. Coupled with the Royal Academy’s new commitment to host a yearly architecture exhibition, the gift will realise the RA’s mission to garner a wider appreciation and understanding of architecture, bringing to the fore its vital relationship to culture and society.