Royal Academy of Arts

Putting the art into pARTy 🥂

Last night we held our Summer Exhibition Preview Party in collaboration with Creed Fragrance ☀️

This is our biggest fundraising event of the year, raising essential funds to train the next generation of artists at the Royal Academy Schools.

Sikelela Owen's painting 'Knitting' has been awarded the 2025 Wollaston Award for ‘the most distinguished work’ in the Summer Exhibition.

"There is such gentleness, softness and humility in this painting, and yet there is also profound power and confidence. It immediately takes us to another place, but one that feels familiar, universal." - Elif Shafak, one of the judges for the award.

Come and see this beautiful work alongside 1,729 others in the worlds largest open submission exhibition, opening 17 June ☀️

Taking inspiration from a Victorian book of cyanotypes depicting British algae, Mandy Barker has meticulously catalogued fibres from fast fashion in the same style.

See this artwork for yourself in the 2025 Summer Exhibition, opening June 17.

Memories of Argentinian meat markets and early work experience in a surgeon's office seep through in Tamara Kostianovsky’s work, which combines visceral bodily imagery with soft plush materials.

See the sculpture for yourself in the 2025 Summer Exhibition, opening June 17.

From the 1870s onwards, artists fled to the south of France to escape areas rocked by industrialisation and unrest.

From Matisse and Klein in Nice to Monet and Picasso in Antibes, the French Riviera has inspired artists for over 100 years.

Opening in autumn 2026, our exhibition will explore how the French Riviera became a catalyst for creativity, from fostering the rise of modern art to later becoming a travel destination that shaped mid-century glamour.

Pierre Bonnard, 'The Palm', 1926. Acquired 1928. The Phillips Collection, Washington

Can you spot the ghastly human face trapped in the stem of this poisonous mushroom?🍄

Very little is known about this post-apocalyptic landscape by Victor Hugo. It is one of his largest drawings, made in a year when he started to draw complex and surprising compositions at a larger scale.

Victor Hugo, 'Mushroom', 1850. Maisons de Victor Hugo, Paris / Guernsey. Photo: CCØ Paris Musées / Maisons de Victor Hugo

Sunflowers, lilies, tulips, and vases with floral arrangements – here are just five of the best flowers in art.

What are your favourites? 🌼

Meet the rebel painter of the British art world.

Rose Wylie found success early in her career as a painter, which she started later in life in her fifties.

Since then, she has cemented her place as a cultural icon; her art, her singular style and even her paint-strewn studio in the Kent countryside making waves across the art world, fashion scene and beyond.

Featuring her most iconic artworks with brand-new paintings, we will be hosting the largest exhibition of Wylie's work to date in February next year.

Coming soon... 2026 at the RA 🌟

🔸 'Rose Wylie', 28 February - 19 April 2026
🔹 'Michaelina Wautier', 27 March - 21 June 2026
🔸 'Summer Exhibition 2026', 16 June - 23 August 2026
🔹 'Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam', 25 July - 25 October 2026
🔸 'Painting the French Riviera', 2 October 2026 - 31 January 2027
🔹 'Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector', 21 November 2026 - 14 March 2027

Find out more: https://roy.ac/rxx0d2ph