Best of British: The Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition 2023

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The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition is back and we sent our roving reporter Mr. Wren, our resident art enthusiast to enjoy and find his favorites in the show. He was gone a long time, there are 1,614 featured works!

What is the Summer Exhibition

The Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts is always one of our do not miss London Summer experiences, along with The Wimbledon Championships or Glastonbury. After thoroughly enjoying last year’s Summer Exhibition we knew almost anything goes.

So expect to find art in all forms, from prints, painting, film, and photography, to architectural works and sculpture by invited artists, Royal Academicians, and emerging talent.

You could easily spend many hours at the RA’s Summer Exhibition. Take a look at Paula Rego’s, work Oratorio, 2008-09. There is so much to look at here. I’m sure you could write a whole thesis on what the late Paula Rego RA was intending with Oratorio. This old wooden cabinet contains gory scenes and grisly dolls. There’s a gripping darkness to her work.

In fact, darkness is one of the observations of Time Out in their feature: Ten things we loved about the Summer Exhibition.

Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2023

An incredible 16,500 works of art are submitted online. They choose around 4000 works of art to shortlist from and about 6% are chosen by the hanging committee Everyone selected to display their art feels like a winner!

I love the diversity of the talent and finding a work of art that speaks to me. I respect being made to think about what the artist portrays. Some are lovely, others are funny and some are shocking. Everyone chosen plays a part in the bigger picture and has something to say about the theme.

‘Only Connect’ Theme

The theme this year is Only Connect which allows for a very broad interpretation. Organisers suggest:

‘it can be as simple or complex as putting a plug into a socket, meeting a friend for a coffee, or the fabric of the entire cosmos’

For many one of the fun parts of the exhibition is trying to work out the link to the “Only Connect” theme. Mr Wren comments the theme often wasn’t clear to his untutored eye. In his words: ‘The theme allowed every humanoid and their automated dog to score an entry making for an eclectic mix’

Take this above, found in Room 2 called Big Easy Mixing Red and Transparent. This striking contemporary piece is one of four by Ron Arad. An industrial designer, artist, and architect and one of the most influential designers of his generation. If you would like to own this hunk of crystalline resin it’s yours to snap up for £75,000.

What I love about the Summer Exhibition is this mixture of eminent artists and lesser-known people. Many who I feel I should get to know (and perhaps most people probably do know!)

How to buy Artwork

The excitement of the Summer Exhibition is that most of the artworks are for sale. How many of us have a dream to have Royal Academy art hanging in our lounge? Well, you can!

Sales from the Summer Exhibition support the exhibiting artists and the RA’s charitable work, including training the next generation of artists in the Royal Academy Schools. So go on, it’s for a worthy cause!

We love to guess how much the art costs. We then compare the artwork to what it is priced at in the list of works. What is great about the Summer Exhibition is the range in prices. How about Five Stone Wind (for John Cage) for sale at £130,000? But if you are quick on opening night, you could have snaffled Drifting Apart by Geoffrey Burling, a £150 bargain.

In our opinion, the Summer Exhibition is always worth a trip. Mr. Wren felt the walls were very full, too full, and almost overwhelming. I even heard him say some of the stuff was rubbish, harsh words! One person’s rubbish is another one’s jubilation to have their art on the prestigious walls of the Royal Academy. Art is definitely all in the eye of the beholder.

Mr Wren is not alone however in loving The Sitter by Barbara Walker. As described by Time Out: ‘This painting is surrounded by big names – Tracey Emin, Chantal Joffe – but Walker’s work stands head and shoulders above pretty much everything else it’s shown next to. It’s beautifully painted, tender, confident, and full of emotion and visual depth’. 

Look out for

Last year we had the moldy lemon that we were all discussing. This year it seemed to be a dead cat.

The alarmingly realistic moggy is by Ryan Gander, RA. It is called Rest in Pieces. It’s certainly a talking point and is made of wood, latex, resin, synthetic fur, paint, and animatronics. For sale for £66,000.

The Royal Academy of Arts Blog suggests 8 works of Art to look out for at this year’s Summer Exhibition. Only one, the above cat is captured by Mr Wren, and that’s the whole point of the Summer Exhibition. I bet if you attend with all your friends, everyone would have a different favourite. Everyone would possibly choose a different memorable piece too.

Entering works to the Summer Exhibition 2024

The best thing about the Summer Exhibition is that you could be looking at a painting that any one of us created. I watched a BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary that followed artists far and wide as they submitted their works. It’s brilliant that anyone can be chosen to be hung on the prestigious Royal Academy walls. 

Go on, I know there are lots of fabulous artists who follow this blog. Would you like to enter works for next year’s exhibition? You will find all the information at the Summer Exhibition 2024 website. Good Luck!

The Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition details

Website: The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Held: 13 June – 20 August 2023

Tickets: £22 – £24.50 (including donation)

For those planning ahead the dates you need for next year are 18 June – 18 August 2024

Address: Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD

Opening hours: Tues – Sun: 10 am–6 pm

Nearest Tube Stations: Piccadilly Circus, Green Park, Oxford Circus, Bond Street

Final Thoughts

I hope you have enjoyed this little wander around the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition. Perhaps if you are in London in the next few weeks you will consider popping along to enjoy the exhibition. Do you like visiting art galleries? Is there a Summer Exhibition where you live?

If you have enjoyed this post you might like to read: Wandering the Royal Academy of the Arts Summer Exhibition, Artists in the Bangkok Community, Ban Silipan Artist Community, The shambolic delight of the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi