Summer Exhibition

A gallery for all

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition has been a firm fixture on art lovers’ calendars for over 250 years. Each year, an acclaimed Royal Academician takes the helm, including the likes of Yinka Shonibare RA and Grayson Perry RA, as they curate an eclectic showcase for the bright and brave.

A true variety show

Prints to paintings, sculpture to photography, the Royal Academy’s annual Summer Exhibition is the oldest – and largest – open submission exhibition in the world. Since 1769 it has attracted artists from the emerging to the established, showcasing works that span the full breadth of creative disciplines.

There are over 1,200 pieces on display this year, filling the galleries and flooding the courtyard – even spilling out onto Piccadilly. Artists have explored the theme of ‘making space’ through multiple media. There’s Diana Copperwhite’s ‘Neural’, where colourful brushstrokes trace an ambiguous space. While the still-life printmaking of Clare Woods examines the everyday objects that fill our homes.

Best of British

This year’s show has been coordinated by British sculptor Ann Christopher RA. Her powerful pieces combine modernity with a certain timelessness, and her own ‘Finding Stones 4’ provides a thought-provoking moment in the exhibition – an impactful, yet mysterious, work that’s indicative of her practice.