The Piccadilly based venue has confirmed details of its exhibition programme for 2025.
Kerry James Marshall, School of Beauty, School of Culture, 2012. Acrylic and glitter on unstretched canvas, 274.3 x 401.3 cm. Collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama. © Kerry James Marshall. Photo: Sean Pathasema. Image courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
2025 at the Royal Academy of Arts will begin with Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism (28th January-21st April) which will feature over 130 works from the 1910s to the 1970s by ten important Brazilian artists to highlight the diversity of Brazilian art during this period. The ten featured artists will include pioneers of early Brazilian Modernism, a movement spearheaded by Anita Malfatti followed by Vicente do Rego Monteiro, the Jewish Lithuanian emigré Lasar Segall, Candido Portinari and Tarsila do Amara among others.
Those visiting the Royal Academy from the 21st March, will be able to take a look at Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo. This display will feature many of Hugo’s rarely displayed works on paper, last exhibited in the UK 50 years ago. It will follow his preoccupation with drawing, from his early caricatures and travel drawings to his dramatic landscapes and his experiments with abstraction.
The Royal Academy’s annual Summer Exhibition will return once more from the 17th June until the 17th August. Now in its 257th year, it provides a platform for new and established artists to showcase their work side by side to reach a wide audience. It will feature a wide range of media from painting, printmaking and photography, to sculpture, architecture and film.
Meanwhile, from the 28th June will see the opening of Kiefer/Van Gogh exhibition. This display will focus its attention on the influence that Vincent Van Gogh has on Anselm
Kiefer Hon RA, from his early years to the present day. Bringing the work of both artists together, it will include paintings and drawings by Van Gogh from the collection of
the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, with works by Kiefer which have been inspired by Van Gogh, including new work that has never been shown before.
In September 2025, the Royal Academy will present an exhibition dedicated to the work of American artist Kerry James Marshall , marking the artist’s 70th birthday. It will explore his expansive career to date and it will be his first institutional presentation in the UK for almost 20 years. It will feature around 70 works, including a new series of
paintings made especially for the show and his commemorative sculpture Wake, 2003 – ongoing,which evolves each time it is exhibited.
From the 24th October, A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle will explore an important network of South Asian artists working alongside the Indian sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee (1949-2015). Featuring drawings, paintings and
sculptures by Mukherjee’s peers and teachers, including her parents Benode Behari Mukherjee and Leela Mukherjee who taught at the influential Bhavana art school in Santiniketan; , the exhibition will also include works from Mukherjee’s prolific 40-year career.
For more information and to book tickets visit: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/