Temporary exhibitions at the Royal Academy

This article contains a partial list of temporary exhibitions mounted at the Royal Academy (RA) in London. Only major lending exhibitions are listed: shorter-term events such as the London Original Print Fair are not included, nor are the annual Royal Academy Summer Exhibitions.

Note: the list is known to be incomplete prior to 1987.

In addition to its main galleries behind Burlington House, The RA has additional galleries within the Sackler Wing. Sitting above Burlington House, these galleries (formerly the Diploma galleries) were incorporated within the main building in a scheme designed by Foster Associates. The first exhibition held in these galleries, incorporating the humidity and light controls required of modern exhibition spaces, was the Fauve Landscape in 1991.

History

The RA has held a Summer exhibition every year since 1769, the year after it was founded. For the first 100 years of its existence, this was the only exhibition held each year. In 1870, coinciding with its move to Burlington House, the RA began organising an annual loan exhibition of Old Masters and works by recently deceased British artists, known from its inception and for many years as the Winter Exhibition. After World War 1 the Winter Exhibitions programme became far more ambitious and included major surveys of Italian, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, French, Persian and British art. Since 2013, the RA has made digitized catalogues of the pre-1939 exhibitions freely available on its website.

Exhibitions

Dates open to the public	Title	Location
18 March 2014 to 8 June 2014	Renaissance Impressions	Sackler Wing
25 January 2014 to 6 April 2014	Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined	Main Galleries
7 November 2013 to 16 February 2014	Bill Woodrow RA	Burlington Gardens
29 October 2013 to 26 January 2014	Daumier (1808–1879): Visions of Paris	Sackler Wing
21 September 2013 to 8 December 2013	Australia	Main Galleries
18 July 2013 to 13 October 2013	Richard Rogers RA: Inside Out	Burlington Gardens
6 July 2013 to 29 September 2013	Mexico: A Revolution in Art, 1910–1940	Sackler Wing
16 March 2013 to 9 June 2013	George Bellows (1882–1925): Modern American Life	Sackler Wing
26 January 2013 to 14 April 2013	Manet: Portraying Life	Main Galleries
13 December 2012 to 17 February 2013	Mariko Mori: Rebirth	Burlington Gardens
8 December 2012 to 17 February 2013	Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape	Majedski Fine Rooms
15 September 2012 to 9 December 2012	Bronze	Main Galleries
7 July 2012 to 23 September 2012	From Paris: A taste for impressionism. Paintings from the Clark	Sackler Wing
10 March 2012 to 10 June 2012	Johan Zoffany RA: Society observed	Sackler Wing
21 January 2012 to 9 April 2012	David Hockney RA: A bigger picture	Main Galleries
29 October 2011 to 22 January 2012	Building the revolution: Soviet art and architecture 1915–1935	Sackler Wing
17 September 2011 to 11 December 2011	Degas and the ballet: picturing movement	Main Galleries
30 June 2011 to 2 October 2011	Eyewitness: Hungarian photography in the 20th century. Brassai, Capa, Kertész, Moholy-Nagy, Munkacsi	Sackler Wing
12 March 2011 to 5 June 2011	Watteau: the drawings	Sackler Wing
22 January 2011 to 7 April 2011	Modern British Sculpture	Main Galleries
30 October 2010 to 23 January 2011	Pioneering Painters: The Glasgow Boys 1880–1900	Sackler Wing
25 September 2010 to 12 December 2010	Treasures from Budapest: European masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele	Main Galleries
10 July 2010 to 26 September 2010	Sargent and the sea	Sackler Wing
13 March 2010 to 13 June 2010	Paul Sandby RA (1731–1809): Picturing Britain. A Bicentenary exhibition	Sackler Wing
23 January 2010 to 18 April 2010	The real Van Gogh: the artist and his letters	Main galleries
24 October 2010 to 24 January 2010	Wild thing: Epstein, Gaudier-Brzeska, Gill	Sackler Wing
26 September 2009 to 11 December 2009	Anish Kapoor	Main galleries
27 June 2009 to 13 September 2009	J.W. Waterhouse	Sackler Wing
21 March 2009 to 7 June 2009	Kuniyoshi	Sackler Wing
31 January 2009 to 13 April 2009	Andrea Palladio: his life and legacy	Main galleries
25 October 2008 to 22 March 2009	Byzantium 330–1453	Main galleries
4 October 2008 to 2 January 2009	Miro, Calder, Giacometti, Braque: Aime Maeght and his artists	Sackler Wing
28 June to 7 September 2008	Vilhelm Hammershoi	Sackler Wing
8 March 2008 to 8 June 2008	Cranach	Sackler Wing
26 January to 18 April 2008	From Russia	Main galleries
20 October 2007 to 27 January 2008	An American's passion for British Art: Paul Mellon's legacy	Sackler Wing
22 September 2007 to 9 December 2007	Georg Baselitz	Main galleries
15 September 2007 to 2 December 2008	Making History: Antiquaries in Britain 1707–2007	Main galleries
7 July 2007 to 30 September 2007	Impressionists by the sea	Sackler Wing
17 March 2007 to 10 June 2007	The unknown Monet: pastels and drawings	Sackler Wing
3 February 2007 to 20 April 2007	Citizens and kings: portraits in the age of revolution	Main galleries
11 November 2006 to 25 February 2007	Chola: Sacred bronzes of Southern India	Sackler Wing
13 September 2006 to 1 January 2007	Rodin	Main galleries
8 July 2006 to 15 October 2006	Modigliani and his models	Sackler Wing
25 February 2006 to 4 June 2006	Jacob von Ruisdael: Master of landscape	Sackler Wing
12 November 2005 to 17 April 2006	China: the three emperors 1662–1795	Main galleries
1 October 2005 to 11 December 2005	Edvard Munch by himself	Main galleries & Sackler Wing
2 July 2005 to 11 September 2005	Impressionism abroad	Sackler Wing
5 March 2005 to 30 May 2005	Matisse, his art and his textiles	Sackler Wing
22 January 2005 to 12 April 2005	Turks	Main galleries
30 October 2004 to 23 January 2005	William Nicholson (1872–1949)	Sackler Wing
28 September 2004 to 10 December 2004	Ancient art to post-impressionism	Main galleries
15 May 2004 to 30 August 2004	Tamara de Lempicka	Sackler Wing
31 January to 18 April 2004	Vuillard	Main galleries
24 January 2004 to 12 April 2004	The art of Philip Guston	Main galleries
29 November 2003 to 22 February 2004	Illuminating the Renaissance	Sackler Wing
20 September 2003 to 12 December 2003	Pre-raphaelite and other masters	Main galleries
9 October 2003 to 9 November 2003	Craigie Aitchison	Sackler Wing
18 October 2003 to 15 February 2004	Giorgio Armani	Burlington Gardens
28 June 2003 to 21 September 2003	Kirchner: Expressionism and the city	Sackler Wing
15 March 2003 to 8 June 2003	Masterpieces from Dresden	Sackler Wing
16 November 2002 to 11 April 2003	Aztecs	Main galleries
14 September to 24 November 2002	Masters of colour: Derain to Kandinski	Sackler Wing
26 April 2002 to 14 July 2002	Return of the Buddha: the Qingzhou discoveries	Sackler Wing
14 March 2002 to 12 April 2002	Tilson: pop to present	Sackler Wing
26 January 2002 to 19 April 2002	Paris: Capital of the Arts 1900–1968	Main galleries
24 November 2001 to 17 February 2002	The dawn of the floating world (1650–1765)	Sackler Wing
22 September 2001 to 16 December 2001	Rembrandt's Women	Main galleries
14 September 2001 to 12 December 2001	Frank Auerbach: Paintings and drawings 1954–2001	Main galleries
30 June 2001 to 24 September 2001	Ingres to Matisse: Masterpieces of French Painting	Sackler Wing
17 March 2001 to 10 June 2001	Boticelli's Dante: The drawings for the divine comedy	Sackler Wing
20 January 2001 to 16 April 2001	The genius of Rome 1592–1623	Main galleries
2 December 2000 to 18 February 2001	Turner: The great watercolours	Sackler Wing
12 October 2000 to 12 November 2000	Terry Frost: six decades	Sackler Wing
23 September 2000 to 15 December 2000	Apocalypse: Beauty and horror in contemporary art	Main galleries
30 June 2000 to 24 September 2000	The Scottish colourists 1900–1930: Peploe, Fergusson, Hunter and Cadell	Sackler Wing
11 March 2000 to 29 May 2000	Chardin 1699–1779	Sackler Wing
16 January 2000 to 3 April 2000	1900: Art at the crossroads	Main galleries
13 November 1999 to 6 February 2000	Amazons of the avant-garde: six Russian artists	Sackler Wing
30 September 1999 to 31 October 1999	John Hoyland RA	Sackler Wing
11 September 1999 to 3 December 1999	John Soane: Architect	Main galleries
11 September 1999 to 10 December 1999	Van Dyck 1599–1641	Main galleries
22 July 1999 to 16 September 1999	Joseph Beuys drawings: the secret block	Sackler wing
14 April 1999 to 4 July 1999	Kandinsky: Watercolours and other works on paper	Sackler Wing
23 January 1999 to 18 April 1999	Monet in the 20th century	Main galleries
17 November 1998 to 20 December 1998	100 masterpieces of imperial Chinese ceramics from the Au Bak Ling collection	Main galleries
22 October 1998 to 17 January 1999	Life? or theatre? The work of Charlotte Salamon	Sackler Wing
1 October 1998 to 1 November 1998	Beyond minimalism: recent architecture of Tadao Ando	Main galleries
17 September 1998 to 16 December 1998	Picasso: Painter and sculptor in clay	Main galleries
2 July 1998 to 4 October 1998	Chagall: Love and the stage	Sackler Wing
19 March 1998 to 14 June 1998	The art of holy Russia: Icons from Moscow 1400–1660	Sackler Wing
22 January 1998 to 13 April 1998	The art treasures of England: the regional collections	Main galleries
13 November 1997 to 8 February 1998	Victorian Fairy Painting	Sackler Wing
18 September 1997 to 28 December 1997	Sensation: Young British artists from the Saatchi collection	Main galleries
3 July 1997 to 28 September 1997	Hiroshige: images of mist, rain, moon and snow	Sackler Wing
20 March 1997 to 8 June 1997	The Berlin of George Grosz: Drawings, Watercolours and Prints 1912–1930	Sackler Wing
6 February 1997 to 16 March 1997	Denys Lasdun	Main galleries
6 February 1997 to 2 March 1997	Gillian Ayres RA	Sackler galleries
23 January 1997 to 6 April 1997	Georges Braque: The late works	Main galleries
9 October 1996 to 1 January 1997	Alberto Giacometti 1901–1966	Main galleries
9 November 1996 to 23 January 1997	From Mantegna to Picasso: Drawings from the Thaw collection	Sackler Wing
26 September 1996 to 5 January 1997	Living Bridges	Main galleries
11 July 1996 to 22 September 1996	Roger de Grey	Sackler Wing
28 March 1996 to 23 June 1996	Gustave Caillebotte, the unknown impressionist	Sackler Wing
16 February 1996 to 21 April 1996	Frederic Leighton, 1830–1896	Main galleries
9 November 1995 to 28 January 1996	David Hockney: A drawing retrospective	Sackler Wing
4 October 1995 to 21 January 1996	Africa: Art of a continent	Main galleries
30 June 1995 to 8 October 1995	From Manet to Gauguin: Masterpieces from Swiss Private Collections	Sackler Wing
1 June 1995 to 11 June 1995	Norman Adams RA: The fourteen stations of the Cross	Sackler Wing
17 February 1995 to 21 May 1995	Odilon Redon: Dreams and visions	Sackler Wing
2 February 1995 to 2 April 1995	The Palladian revival: Lord Burlington and his house and garden at Chiswick	Main galleries
19 January 1995 to 9 April 1995	Nicolas Poussin	Main galleries
27 October 1994 to 22 January 1995	The painted page: Italian Renaissance book illumination 1450–1550	Sackler Wing
15 September 1994 to 14 December 1994	The Glory of Venice 1700–1800	Main galleries
7 July 1994 to 2 October 1994	Impressionism to Symbolism: The Belgian Avant-Garde 1880–1900	Sackler Wing
17 March 1994 to 12 June 1994	Goya: Truth and fantasy, the small paintings	Sackler Wing
3 February 1994 to 3 March 1994	Sandra Blow RA	Sackler Wing
20 January 1994 to 6 April 1994	In pursuit of the absolute: art of the ancient world, from the collection of George Ortiz	Main galleries
14 January 1994 to 4 April 1994	The unknown Modigliani	Main galleries
30 October 1993 to 23 January 1994	Drawings from the J Paul Getty Museum	Sackler Wing
16 September 1993 to 12 December 1993	American Art in the 20th Century	Main galleries
2 July 1993 to 10 October 1993	Pissarro: Impressionist in the City	Sackler Wing
11 March 1993 to 6 June 1993	Georges Rouault: The early years 1903–1920	Sackler Wing
15 January 1993 to 11 April 1993	The great age of British Watercolours 1750–1880	Main galleries
20 November 1992 to 14 February 1993	Sickert: Paintings	Main galleries
5 November 1992 to 20 December 1992	Tom Phillips RA	Sackler Wing
18 September 1992 to 14 December 1992	Wisdom and compassion: the sacred art of Tibet	Main galleries
3 July 1992 to 18 October 1992	Alfred Sisley 1839–1899	Sackler Wing
17 January 1992 to 5 April 1992	Andrea Mantegna	Main galleries
13 March 1992 to 7 June 1992	Alexander Calder	Sackler Wing
15 November 1991 to 9 February 1992	Hokusai	Sackler Wing
19 September 1991 to 27 October 1991	Francesco Clemente: Three worlds	Sackler Wing
13 September 1991 to 15 December 1991	The pop art show	Main galleries
18 June 1991 to 1 September 1991	The Fauve landscape: Matisse, Derain, Braque and their circle	Sackler Wing
18 June 1991 to 1992	The Royal Academy 1768–1830	Private rooms
8 March 1991 to 12 May 1991	Sir Christopher Wren and the making of St Pauls	Private rooms
1 February 1991 to 9 April 1991	The passionate eye: impressionist and other paintings	Main galleries
15 December 1990 to 20 January 1991	Sheila Fell RA (1931–1979)	Main galleries
23 November 1990 to 17 February 1991	Egon Schiele and his contemporaries	Main galleries
7 September 1990 to 9 December 1990	Monet in the 90s: The series paintings	Main galleries
28 July 1990 to 21 October 1990	The Edwardians and after: the Royal Academy 1900–1950	Private rooms
21 April 1990 to 15 July 1990	Modern masters from the Gelman collection	Private rooms
13 January 1990 to 8 April 1990	Frans Hals	Main galleries
15 December 1989 to 25 February 1990	Inigo Jones: complete architectural drawings	Private rooms
22 September 1989 to 23 December 1989	The art of photography	Main galleries
14 September 1989 to 24 September 1989	Michael Sandle RA	Diploma galleries
9 September 1989 to 19 November 1989	Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven: Prints and paintings	Private rooms
5 July 1989 to 3 September 1989	Frederick Gore RA	Diploma galleries
17 May 1989 to 25 June 1989	Conservation today	Private rooms
17 March 1989 to 18 June 1989	Royal Treasures of Sweden	Diploma galleries
14 January 1989 to 9 April 1989	Italian art in the 20th century
19 October 1988 to 20 November 1988	Norman Adams RA
14 October 1988 to 4 January 1989	Toulouse-Lautrec: the graphic works
16 September 1988 to 11 December 1988	Henry Moore
7 September 1988 to 9 October 1988	Jeffrey Camp RA
22 April 1988 to 21 August 1988	Early Cézanne	Diploma galleries
18 March 1988 to 12 June 1988	Old Master paintings from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection	Private rooms
6 November 1987 to 6 March 1988	Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England
16 September 1987 to 14 October 1987	Reflections after Las Meninas	Diploma galleries
10 July 1987 to 25 October 1987	Master drawings from the Woodner collection	Private rooms
6 June 1987 to 23 August 1987	Jewels of the ancients: selections from the Gillian Sackler collection of near Eastern jewellery
27 March 1987 to 21 June 1987	Byzantium to El Greco: Icons and frescoes from Greece
15 January 1987 to 5 April 1987	British art in the twentieth century: the modern movement
3 October 1986 to 21 December 1986	New architecture: Foster, Rogers, Stirling
16 September 1986 to 19 October 1986	Michael Kenny: recent sculptures, reliefs and drawings	Diploma galleries
11 September 1986 to 19 November 1986	Je suis le cahier: the sketchbooks of Picasso
21 March 1986 to 22 June 1986	Sir Alfred Gilbert
5 February 1986 to 23 March 1986	Eduardo Paolozzi underground
16 January 1986 to 31 March 1986	Sir Joshua Reynolds
11 October 1985 to 22 December 1985	German art in the twentieth century
27 September 1985 to 3 November 1985	Thirty London painters
20 April 1985 to 14 July 1985	Edward Lear
22 February 1985 to 8 April 1985	Peter Greenham
8 February 1985 to 24 March 1985	Elisabeth Frink
11 January 1985 to 31 March 1985	Chagall	Main galleries
12 October 1984 to 19 December 1984	Modern masters from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection
7 September 1984 to 18 November 1984	The age of Vermeer and de Hooch
24 March 1984 to 27 May 1984	The Orientalists: Delacroix to Matisse
25 November 1983 to 11 March 1984	The genius of Venice
6 October 1983 to 23 October 1983	53–83 ILEA exhibition: 3 decades of artists	Diploma galleries
17 September 1983 to 13 November 1983	Art of the avant-garde in Russia: the George Costakis collection
16 April 1983 to 10 July 1983	The Hague school: Dutch masters of the 19th century
17 January 1983 to 27 March 1983	Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617–1682
2 October 1982 to 12 December 1982	Painting in Naples from Caravaggio to Giordano 1606–1705
28 December 1981 to 21 February 1982	The Great Japan exhibition: Art of the Edo period 1860–1868 (Part II)	Main galleries
24 October 1981 to 20 December 1981	The Great Japan exhibition: Art of the Edo period 1860–1868 (Part I)	Main galleries
15 January 1981 to 18 March 1981	A new spirit in painting	Main galleries
20 September to 14 December 1980	Stanley Spencer RA
17 November 1979 to 16 March 1980	Post-impressionism
21 November 1978 to 18 March 1979	The Gold of El Dorado
4 March 1978 to 21 May 1978	Rowlandson drawings from the Paul Mellon collection
14 January 1978 to 19 March 1978	Robert Motherwell: Paintings and Collages from 1941 to the Present	Main galleries
26 November 1977 to 19 February 1978	Leonardo da Vinci, anatomical drawings from the Royal Collection
6 October 1977 to 30 October 1977	Works on paper : Contemporary Art Society's gifts to public galleries, 1952–1977	Diploma galleries
19 March 1977 to 10 July 1977	This brilliant year : Queen Victoria's jubilee 1887
5 March 1977 to 11 April 1977	John Tunnard 1900–1971
20 November 1976 to 27 February 1977	Pompeii AD 79
10 January 1976 to 14 March 1976	The golden age of Spanish painting
18 October 1975 to 30 November 1975	Landscape masterpieces from Soviet museums
9 February 1974 to 28 April 1974	Impressionism: its masters, its precursors and its influence in Britain	Diploma galleries
29 September 1973 to 23 January 1974	The Genius of China: An Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China
24 February 1973 to 30 April 1973	English drawings and watercolours 1550–1850 from the Mellon Collection	Diploma galleries
4 March 1972 to 30 April 1972	Victorian and Edwardian decorative art, the Handley-Read Collection
8 January 1972 to 5 March 1972	British sculptors '72
20 November 1971 to 12 December 1971	The Slade, 1871–1971: a centenary exhibition	Diploma galleries
25 September 1971 to 21 November 1971	Ensor to Permeke: nine Flemish painters, 1880–1950: Brusselmans, De Smet, Ensor, Evenepoel, Permeke, Spilliaert, Tytgat, Van den Berghe, Wouters
30 August 1969 to 30 November 1969	French paintings since 1900 : from private collections in France
14 December 1968 to 2 March 1969	Royal Academy of Arts bicentenary exhibition, 1768–1968	Main galleries & diploma galleries
6 January 1968 to 3 March 1968	France in the Eighteenth Century
6 January 1966 to 6 March 1966	Pierre Bonnard, 1867–1947
17 September 1965 to 13 November 1965	Treasures from the Commonwealth
12 December 1964 to 28 February 1965	Painting in England 1700–1850 from the collection of Mr & Mrs Paul Mellon
23 July 1964 to 6 September 1964	Hittite Art & The Antiquities of Anatolia	Diploma galleries
7 December 1963 to 1 March 1964	Goya and his times
28 September 1963 to 27 October 1963	Treasures of the Royal Academy : an exhibition of paintings, drawings, sculpture and other possessions earlier than about 1850
19 March 1963 to 28 April 1963	A Painter's Collection: An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture from the Collection of Edward Le Bas, RA	Diploma galleries
15 February 1963 to 17 March 1963	Art USA now : the Johnson collection of contemporary American paintings	Main galleries
20 October 1962 to 21 December 1962	Sir William Russell Flint	Diploma galleries
22 June 1962 to 12 August 1962	5,000 years of Egyptian art	Diploma galleries
6 January 1962 to 7 March 1962	Primitives to Picasso: An Exhibition from Municipal and University Collections in Great Britain
10 March 1961 to 14 May 1961	Paintings and Drawings by Sir Edwin Landseer, R. A. 1803–1873	Diploma galleries
10 December 1960 to 26 February 1961	The age of Charles II	Main galleries
2 January 1960 to 6 March 1960	Italian art and Britain
4 January 1958 to 9 March 1958	The age of Louis XIV
24 November 1956 to 3 March 1957	British portraits
3 December 1955 to 26 February 1956	English taste in the eighteenth century from Baroque to neoclassic
29 October 1955 to 19 February 1956	Portuguese art, 800–1800
27 November 1954 to 27 February 1955	European masters of the eighteenth century
5 December 1953 to 6 March 1954	Flemish Art, 1300–1700
13 August 1953 to 25 October 1953	Drawings by old masters
22 November 1952 to 1 March 1953	Dutch pictures 1450–1750
8 8 December 1951 to 9 March 1952	The first hundred years of the Royal Academy, 1769–1868
9 9 December 1950 to 7 March 1951	Works by Holbein and Other Masters of the 16th and 17th Centuries
30 September 1950 to 31 October 1950	Exhibition of Paintings and Silver from Woburn Abbey: Lent by the Duke of Bedford
10 December 1949 to 5 March 1950	Landscape in French art 1550–1900
8 January 1949 to 6 March 1949	The Chantrey Collection
29 November 1947 to 29 February 1948	exhibition of art chiefly from the dominions of India and Pakistan
26 October 1946 to 16 March 1947	Exhibition of the King's Pictures
15 February 1946 to 17 March 1946	Greek art 3000 B.C. – A.D. 1945	Main galleries