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| Galleries of the Royal Academy | |
|---|---|
| Name | Galleries of the Royal Academy |
| Established | 1768 |
| Location | Burlington House, Piccadilly, London |
| Type | Art gallery |
| Collections | Painting, Sculpture, Prints, Drawings |
| Visitors | (varies) |
| Website | (official) |
Galleries of the Royal Academy The Galleries of the Royal Academy are the exhibition spaces associated with the Royal Academy of Arts at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, housing historic and contemporary displays by members and invited artists. Founded in 1768 by leading figures including Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, and Benjamin West, the galleries have hosted landmark exhibitions such as the Summer Exhibition and retrospective shows for artists like J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, and Lucian Freud. Over centuries the galleries have interacted with institutions such as the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and Tate Britain while attracting patrons from the circles of King George III, Wellington, and later cultural figures including Virginia Woolf and John Ruskin.
The foundation of the galleries followed meetings at the Society of Artists of Great Britain and the patronage of King George III, with early governance influenced by figures including Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West, and William Chambers. In the 18th century the galleries exhibited works by Thomas Gainsborough, George Stubbs, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and collectors like Sir Joshua Reynolds. The 19th century saw expansion during the eras of John Soane and Sir Charles Barry, and high-profile exhibitions of J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, Francis Bacon, and Gustave Courbet created international links to the Salon and museums in Paris, Florence, and Rome. Twentieth-century events involved collaborations with the British Council, retrospectives of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, David Hockney, and modern shows touching on histories connected to World War I, World War II, and the cultural shifts around the British Empire and decolonisation. Contemporary history includes cross-institutional loans with The National Gallery, The Courtauld Institute of Art, National Portrait Gallery, and international venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, and Guggenheim Museum.
The principal galleries occupy rooms within Burlington House on Piccadilly, neighboring institutions like the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London. Architectural interventions by Sir John Soane, Sir Charles Barry, and later restorations echo designs seen at Somerset House, Kensington Palace, and Hampton Court Palace. Exhibition spaces include the Main Galleries, the Sackler Wing, and smaller rooms akin to those at Dulwich Picture Gallery and Sir John Soane's Museum. Surrounding urban context ties to Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, and cultural axes toward Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square, creating visitor routes comparable to The Mall and Hyde Park proximities.
Permanent and temporary holdings reflect works by academicians such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ford Madox Brown, J. M. W. Turner, John Constable, William Blake, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, David Hockney, Antony Gormley, and Tracey Emin. The galleries stage the annual Summer Exhibition alongside curated retrospectives on figures including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Marcel Duchamp, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Yayoi Kusama, Anish Kapoor, Rachel Whiteread, Ai Weiwei, Yoko Ono, Francis Picabia, Giorgio de Chirico, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Georges Seurat, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, John Singer Sargent, Gustave Courbet, Édouard Vuillard, Giorgio Morandi, Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Marina Abramović, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Anselm Kiefer, Käthe Kollwitz, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Wassily Kandinsky's contemporaries and many academicians whose works are loaned from the National Trust, British Library, and private collections. Exhibitions often involve loans from The National Gallery, Tate Modern, Royal Collection Trust, Courtauld Gallery, and international loans from the Louvre, Uffizi Gallery, Prado Museum, Rijksmuseum, and Hermitage Museum.
Governance follows the statutes of the Royal Academy of Arts with an elected President—historically held by figures like Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Frederic Leighton, Sir Charles Wheeler, Sir Michael Rutter—and Academicians who form councils resembling governance seen at the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum. Trustees and curators liaise with funders such as Arts Council England, private patrons, and foundations linked to names like Paul Mellon, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baroness Thatcher (as public figure), and philanthropic trusts patterned after Glenstone or The Getty Foundation. Legal and financial structures interact with charity law and cultural policy as administered by entities like Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Educational programs include lectures, workshops, and courses modelled on those at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Royal College of Art, Slade School of Fine Art, Central Saint Martins, and short courses akin to Tate's programmes. Outreach extends to partnerships with schools across Greater London, community initiatives with organisations like The Prince's Trust, public talks featuring scholars from University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Goldsmiths, University of London, and collaborations with festivals such as the London Festival of Architecture, Frieze Art Fair, and London Design Festival.
Conservation is overseen by in-house teams and specialists who work with institutions like the National Trust Conservation Department, British Library Conservation, and conservation departments at Tate Conservation and the V&A Conservation Department. Projects involve painting conservation, sculpture restoration, and paper treatments comparable to interventions at The Wallace Collection and collaborative scientific analysis with laboratories at English Heritage and university centres such as Courtauld Institute Conservation Department.
Category:Art museums and galleries in London Category:Royal Academy of Arts