A Visit to the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition

On Sunday, we decided to head into Central London and visit the Members Preview of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly.  It was the 245th Summer Exhibition and our first visit to this exhibition, so it was quite exciting.   I had bought my partner a year's membership for his birthday recently and it allowed for a member, partner and up to four children to attend any exhibitions for free and also to get invites for various previews of up and coming exhibitions.  Sunday was one such preview.  We've always meant to go and see a Summer Exhibition, but never actually got around to it, so now we had no excuse.

We drove into town, as it is free parking (if you can find a space) and no congestion charge on a Sunday.  We did have to drive around a bit to find one, but eventually did.  We had a spot of lunch beforehand in a café and then headed in.  It was pretty busy.  You could get a List of Works telling you the price of the many paintings that were actually on sale, the majority of which had already been sold.  You could also buy yourself a glass of Pimms, wine or Champagne, but we didn't indulge.

We wandered around the various rooms taking in all the artwork.  I liked the open nature of this exhibition where artists whether students or established, can apply for their work to be accepted and put on display.  There was a huge range of work in every media.   A few large pieces really appealed to me, only to find they cost £40-50,000.  A smidgeon out of our price range I think.  There were some other smaller works that also appealed, particularly some of the linocuts, but we didn't indulge on this occasion. 

It was an interesting afternoon, however, and well worth the visit especially as Grayson Perry's Tapestries from his 'The Vanity of Small Differences' series were on display in one gallery.  These alone were worth seeing as they were so vivid and colourful and I had enjoyed watching his series on TV where he explored the notion of class in British culture.  I'm sure we'll be back to sample more of their exhibitions throughout the year.  If anyone is interested in attending the exhibition runs from 10th June - 18th August 2013.