Royal Academy of Arts

Established in 1768, the Royal Academy of Arts is the voice for living artists leading art for nearly 250 years.

As such it has become one of the UK’s foremost public art galleries with an international reputation for working with the leading British artists of our generation and delivering some of the most visited, most recognised exhibitions in the world.

We are unique among public galleries in that we were founded by a group of artists and are still governed by the prominent creative talents of our age including David Hockney, Tracey Emin, Anish Kapoor, Thomas Heatherwick, Wolfgang Tillmans and Grayson Perry.

These are the Royal Academicians - artists and architects who are at the heart of everything we do. They help keep our traditions, shape our vision and support our ambitions.

Within our industry, the Royal Academy has the most successful Friends scheme in Europe and the largest Corporate Membership scheme in the UK.

The Royal Academy has a clear, strong voice for art and artists. We stand for artistic excellence, inspiration and creativity. These values influence everything we do from blockbuster shows such as our previous Hockey exhibition, ‘David Hockney: A Bigger Picture’ to our four-year partnership with HS1 Ltd., which sees a site-specific sculpture by a Royal Academician on display in St Pancras International station each year.