Royal Scottish Academy

Since 1826, the Academy has occupied William Henry Playfair’s magnificent landmark building on the Mound, Edinburgh. The RSA is at the forefront of promoting living artists in Scotland, through its Annual Exhibition and a series of temporary exhibitions and events. It also plays a pivotal role in encouraging young artists from all of Scotland’s Colleges of Art and Architecture through a programme of exhibitions and awards. The RSA holds an important collection of Scottish art which is displayed in the RSA and is maintained by the Collections Department at the Dean Gallery.

The Royal Scottish Academy of Art maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose sole purpose is to promote and support the creation, understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts through exhibitions and related educational events.

The Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture has a wide-ranging collection of art and associated objects, archives and published material that have been acquired since the academy’s foundation in 1826. The accumulated material reflects both the life and work of the academy as an institution and its individual members as well as providing a broader view of Scottish art from c.1780 to the present day. The core element of the collections is the Diploma Collection, which comprises a single work by each full member of the academy which he or she must deposit as a representation of his or her genre. Coming directly from the artist, and requiring the approval of the rest of the full membership, the Diploma Collection maintains a direct link between artist and collection.