Viewing The Summer Exhibition 2026

The art of summer.

The Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition returns, as it has every year since 1769, with its glorious annual collision of artists, architects, amateurs, household names, Royal Academicians and maybe even a surprise celebrity. A must see fixture of British summer, this year’s edition brings to life the theme of Interconnectedness, coordinated by Ryan Gander OBE (remember those amazing black balls last year?).

Each room, filled with painting, sculpture and sketch, explores chance encounters which shape our lives and work. To get there your journey starts crossing the iconic Annenberg Courtyard, which this year is lit up with an Ugo Rondinone rainbow celebrating the art of our lives, ’The Song Is You’.

Expect the unexpected with connections between works, however unconventional or abstract. As ever, drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, architecture, film and digital art will appear together, selected from thousands of submissions and arranged across the RA’s Main Galleries.

Most of these works are for sale, with prices that can range from wildly aspirational to surprisingly accessible, making the exhibition as much about collecting as looking. With the addition of a gin bar to sip as you explore, it’s no doubt the Culturally Curious will come home with a new addition for their wall or home. Happy hunting!