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Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2015, © The Royal Academy of Arts. Photo: Benjamin Norton
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2015, © The Royal Academy of Arts. Photo: Benjamin Norton

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition: a beginner's guide

Everything you need to know about the summer staple of London's art scene

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The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition is the largest open-submission exhibition in the world. For 2015, its 247th year, it'll be serving up its time-honoured mix of painting, printmaking, photography and sculpture by established and unknown artists. It’s a winning formula. Here are five things that make the Exhibition such a unique London event.

Five Summer Exhibition facts

It's ancient

It's ancient
It's ancient
© Royal Academy of Arts, London
Held annually since 1769, the Summer Exhibition has showcased the likes of Turner and Constable. But it’s the mixed bag of works by famous names and unknowns
that makes the show unique – and uniquely democratic.

It's the biggest

It's the biggest
It's the biggest
© Royal Academy of Arts, London
Biggest open-submission exhibition in the world, that is. This year 12,000 entries were received. These were whittled down to 1,262 exhibited works including paintings, sculptures, prints and photographs. Prices from £30.
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It loves its customs

It loves its customs
It loves its customs
© Royal Academy of Arts, London
Traditionally a day for adding final touches to exhibited works, Non-Members Varnishing Day (Jun 2) is now marked by a steel band performance in the RA courtyard, followed by a celebratory parade of artists to St James’s Piccadilly.

It's been vandalised

It's been vandalised
It's been vandalised
© Royal Academy of Arts, London
It’s weathered the storm of many world events, but the Exhibition hasn’t been entirely immune from politics. In 1914 suffragette Mary Wood took a meat cleaver to Sargent’s portrait of author Henry James (photograph of the damaged painting, pictured).
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It's fuelled by a strange brew

It's fuelled by a strange brew
It's fuelled by a strange brew
© Royal Academy of Arts, London
During the exhibition hang, Academicians knock back fortifying beef tea, an unctuous concoction of Bovril, sherry and water prepared by red collared RA staff. If the pictures are askew, this could be the reason.

Our top picks from Summer Exhibition

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