In February 2026, the Royal Academy of Arts will present the largest survey to date of celebrated British artist and Royal Academician, Rose Wylie.
Known for her bold, figurative practice that draws from diverse references across art history, ancient civilisations, literature, cinema, celebrity culture, current affairs and immediate surroundings, the exhibition will bring together over 90 works, including Wylie’s most iconic artworks, alongside new and previously unseen paintings and drawings.
A painter of contemporary life, Wylie’s paintings and works on paper chronicle the times she has lived through, from her experience of the Blitz as a young girl, to more daily events such as a summer evening with friends.
As a student at Folkestone and Dover School of Art, Kent in the 1950s, Wylie studied anatomical drawing and figurative painting. Following a break in her career to raise a family, from the mid-1980s Wylie devoted herself to painting again, establishing a studio in her Kent house where she still works today.
For Wylie, drawing is crucial. She draws every day, building a vast memory bank of visual references. Later, sometimes years after, a specific visual motif that has been distilled to its essential character will find its way into a painting, often juxtaposed with unexpected graphic companions or written words.
A number of paintings from the series Film Notes will be brought together for this exhibition, revealing Wylie’s fascination with film. Wylie is interested in the way the camera can zoom in for a close-up or capture different perspectives and angles within the same scene.
Newspapers and the internet provide another source of inspiration, in particular photographs capturing items or individuals in the public eye, from a Babylonian artefact to an actress on the red carpet.
Inspiration also comes from Wylie’s immediate surroundings: her home, the garden with her cat, Pete, and the small community of neighbours around her. Daily life is recorded as a visual diary, whether the satisfaction of an enjoyable meal or a stimulating dinner with friends, providing Wylie with endless source material for her work.
The exhibition will conclude with four large monochromatic paintings of animals in ginger, black, blue and red. These were made by the artist painting directly on to the canvas with her hands, allowing the process of manipulating the paint to determine the image. The subject matter is recognisable, but it is this process of transforming an image beyond conventional representation that holds the meaning for Wylie – and from which the exhibition, The Picture Comes First, takes its title.
Rose Wylie: The Picture Comes First is the latest in a series of RA exhibitions celebrating its Royal Academicians and Honorary Royal Academicians, who are some of the most important living artists including Marina Abramović, Antony Gormley, David Hockney, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Anselm Kiefer, Kerry James Marshall and Ai Weiwei. Wylie was elected as a Royal Academician in 2014.
For further information: royalacademy.org.uk
Image: Rose Wylie, Study for Red Twink, 2002, Graphite and coloured pencil on paper, 31 × 42.5 cm, Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner © Rose Wylie. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner. Photo: Jack Hems
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