Favourites from The Summer Exhibition

For the past few years, I haven't managed to visit the Summer Exhibition, but this weekend, my mum came down to London, so we decided to go together. For those unfamiliar with The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, here’s a little background:

Dating back to 1769, it is the world's oldest open-submission art exhibition and has been held annually without interruption, even during the World Wars. It RA was founded by Sir Joshua Reynolds and other prominent artists of the time, to promote the creation, enjoyment, and appreciation of the visual arts through exhibitions, education, and debate. To this day, the Summer Exhibition is known for its democratic nature - anyone is able to submit their work for consideration. The work is chosen by a selection committee, without knowledge of the artist was who created the piece. The process enables unknown artists to be exhibited alongside established artists.

Whilst not everything will appeal to every taste, to visit and see the vast array of art being created is hugely inspiring. Each year there is a different curator from the Royal Academicians who leads to exhibition - this year it was Ann Christopher. Below are my favourite pieces from over 1,500 pieces on display.

My only one gripe was the minimal representation of textile arts - whilst this may well be due to a smaller number of textile submission, in previous years when mixed media artist Grayson Perry was lead curator in 2018, there was a far higher representation. But, that aside, it was wonderful to visit. I hope through sharing this, you might discover some artists and feel that same inspiration!