Six questions when you visit the RA Summer Exhibition 2026

I visited the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition for the first time in years and as expected I came away impressed, moved, inspired, shocked, amused and happy.

This exhibition is always full of surprises and because it is an open submission show, meaning anyone from famous artists to occasional creators can enter their art to be exhibited, it is a beautiful representation of all kinds of art forms, talent, skill and media - it’s an exhibition of pure creativity that will most likely leave you thinking about it for months and months.

Although submission is open to everyone, the exhibition is so popular that the Academy has capped entries at 18,000 - in 2026, the submission portal opened on 7 February and closed a week later when the cap had been reached. Out of those 18,000 entries, 1,851 made it into the galleries this year, so it is fair to say that it is VERY competitive.

Which one would you steal?

My friend Maggie introduced me to the ‘Which one would you steal?” game when we used to go to exhibitions together, so here is an expanded version of the game which summarises my experience this year: six questions you could ask yourself when visiting the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition:

Which one would you steal? (if you were an art thief)

94

Sky Blue - Lucy Wayne

oil

Which one made you smile?

1009

Dinner - Natalia Shaloshvili

acrylic and oil sticks

Which one moved you the most?

1636

You’ll miss this when it’s gone - Kate Bevan

acrylic on washed out canvas, pencil, oil pastel

Which one stopped you in your tracks?

1522

Brizo - Alberto Fusco

hand folded magazines, spray-painted paper, and hand-cut mosaic tesserae on panel

Which one made you wonder why it was chosen?

659

Sing my land - Geoffrey Winston

Mixed card, paper, tape

Geoffrey Winston

Which one spoke to you (but you wouldn’t pay £10k to own it)?

1122

I pollute therefore I am - Lorenzo Cossutta, Marco Capovilla

One bottle of San Benedetto still water, label removed

The exhibition closes on Sunday, 23 August 2026, so I’d highly recommend if you are in London and can get tickets, to go and see it!