Royal Scottish Academy (RSA)

16/10/2026

It’s been another busy week in the galleries as we prepare to open 200 Years. From paintings and prints to drawings and sculptures, the exhibition traces two centuries of Scottish art and includes some familiar names from the RSA’s history.

Join us in the galleries from Saturday
🗓️ 17 October – 15 November
📍 RSA Lower Galleries

14/10/2026

As our RSA200 celebrations continue, there’s still time to catch some of the exhibitions taking place across Scotland. Here's three highlights you won’t want to miss:
→RSA Select | Gairloch Museum
Until 24 October
Head to the Highlands to explore works by leading contemporary artists, including Paul Furneaux RSA, Samantha Clark, Kate Downie RSA and Frances Walker RSA.
→Wendy McMurdo: The Digital Mirror | National Galleries of Scotland
Until 25 October
The largest presentation of her work to date, this solo show features more than 50 photographs, as well as digital animations and key loans of works that have inspired McMurdo’s practice.
→James Hutton and Glen Tilt | Blair Castle & Gardens
Until 30 October
Explore works by Jake Harvey RSA and Helen Douglas inspired by the landscape of Glen Tilt and James Hutton’s groundbreaking geological discoveries.

📸1 and 2 - Michael Wolchover; 3 and 4- Stuart Armitt; 5 - Alex Baxter.

13/10/2026

As an independent, self-funded charity, we rely on your support to carry out the work we do to champion artists and architects, and the RSA Friends are a really important part of our community. Alongside helping us continue to provide opportunities for creatives, Friends enjoy a year-round programme of exhibitions and events, priority booking, discounted tickets, access to the RSA Friends Room and opportunities to discover art and culture further afield.

Whether you're treating yourself or gifting to the art enthusiast in your life, becoming an RSA Friend is a wonderful way to stay connected. Plus, you’ll be joining us as we look ahead to the next 200 years of the RSA.

💙 Find out more about becoming a Friend via our website: bit.ly/RSAFriends

12/10/2026

COMING SOON: 200 YEARS

2026 has been all about our bicentenary, and what better way to celebrate 200 years of Scottish art than by mounting 200 years of Scottish artworks on the Academy walls. Explore paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints by the foremost artists working in Scotland over the last two centuries. All works will be available for sale, making the exhibition an opportunity to own a piece of our history.

🗓️17 October – 15 November
Barry McGlashan RSA, Seeing Light, 2026

10/10/2026

Edinburgh’s streets have long acted as inspiration for Robbie Bushe RSA’s paintings and drawings, and you can learn how he uses the cutaway to reveal what might be hiding beneath a building’s exterior in our upcoming Academician’s Masterclass.

The two-day masterclass will be a chance to delve into an acclaimed Scottish painter’s practice, develop your skills and create your own staged world filled with figures, actions and events unfolding across a single composition. No experience needed, and all materials will be provided.

📅 24–25 October
📍 Royal Scottish Academy
🎟️Book now on our website

07/10/2026

🎥 🚨£10,000 ARTIST OPPORTUNITY🚨 🎥

There are just a few days left to apply for the RSA Elizabeth Lornie Moving Image Award! Alongside funds to support the research, development and production of a new body of moving image work, the award also includes the opportunity to exhibit at the Academy and have your work entered into our collection.

→ Applications close on Sunday 11 October at 5pm
Image: Alexander & Susan Maris,13.08 (after Rory McEwen), film still, Morton Award winner 2014

04/10/2026

From student life in the 1950s to their long careers at Edinburgh College of Art and as practising artists, Elizabeth Blackadder and John Houston spent decades at the centre of a wide circle of friends, students, colleagues and fellow Academicians. They were deeply immersed in their own creative practices, but always supported and encouraged those around them.

The Blackadder Houston Mid-Career Painting Award reflects that generosity. Established in line with Elizabeth and John’s wishes, the £20,000 award gives one mid-career painter the opportunity to devote themselves exclusively to painting for up to 26 weeks. Time to focus, develop an idea and commit to your practice can be transformative, and we’re honoured to continue Elizabeth and John’s legacy by supporting the next generation of painters in this way.

🗓️There’s just one week left to apply for the 2026 award before the deadline on Sunday 11 October.

03/10/2026

Making art requires more than just ideas. It requires the time, space and opportunities to test, develop and pursue them. Over the past two centuries, we’ve supported thousands of creatives through awards, residencies, exhibitions and scholarships. Our current exhibition, This 26, brings together work by 26 artists, each selected to represent a year of the RSA’s artist opportunities programme since the start of the century.

🗓️ Until 11 October
🎟️ Free entry

01/10/2026

We’ve got another busy month planned with lots of opportunities to celebrate together! At Glasgow Print Studio, delve into the work of Robbie Bushe, Rachel Maclean, Barry McGlashan and Caroline Walker, while at Dundee Contemporary Arts you can catch a screening of the RSA200: Moving Image Programme. At Moray School of Art, Learning Forward brings together work by UHI Fine Art alumni and past RSA New Contemporaries from Friday 30 October.

From the first of the month, the Scottish NHS Arts Collective’s touring exhibition heads to Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Inverclyde Royal Hospital, creating opportunities for patients, visitors and staff to experience art. And at the end of October, Duncan Shanks RSA: The Unseen Journey opens at the Hunterian exploring a decade of sketchbooks, studies and finished works.

🔗 Find out more on our website

30/09/2026