We’ve got another jam-packed month of exhibitions and events planned to celebrate RSA200. Whether you’re revisiting favourites or discovering something new, here’s what’s on this February.
What's on at the RSA
Until 8 March
Our current exhibition in the Academicians’ Gallery examines the discipline of working on a restricted scale, with all artworks on view limited only by size.
Until 8 March
Origin Stories explores the web of artistic relationships that have manifested through the evolution of art teaching in Scotland. Flowing from tutor to student, the fascinating lineage of influence is traced from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Origin Stories installation view
Until 8 March
Richard Murphy RSA brings together the work of seventeen architects who all formerly worked at his Edinburgh practice and have since gone on to establish their own successful studios.
Sonia Browse Architects, Overlap House
Celebrating Together
From Irvine to Aberdeen, February highlights the history of the Academy, maritime heritage and Scottish Collections.
Closing this month
Society of Scottish Artists, Edinburgh
Legacy: A celebration of unity from differences and rivalries
Until 4 February
Legacy, part of the SSA’s 127th Annual Exhibition highlights the links between the Society of Scottish Artists and the Royal Scottish Academy through works by the society’s first generation of presidents.
Wardlaw Museum, University of St Andrews
From These Parts: Scotland, Art and Identity
Until 15 February
From These Parts showcases a number of works on loan from the RSA Collection, including Joan Eardley RSA’s A Field by the Sea – Summer, William McTaggart RSA’s A Shingly Shore and Dorothy Johnstone ARSA’s Marguerite.
Marina Abramović | Rhythm 10 Revisited
Until 21 February
This exhibition features photographs by Richard Demarco HRSA documenting Marina Abramović HRSA’s first performance of Rhythm 10 at the Edinburgh Festival in 1973.
Currently on view
The Empire of Sleep
Until 1 March
The Empire of Sleep explores the symbolic implications of sleep, its role in sacred imagery and the influence of sleep-related research on art. On view you’ll find The Poet's Dream by John Faed RSA, on loan from the RSA.
The Empire of Sleep installation view
Metaphysical Cosmologies: Meg Rodger
Until 28 March
Meg Rodger, recipient of an RSA Residency for Scotland in 2024, presents work developed during her time at Taigh Chearsabhagh in North Uist.
Gray's School of Art: 140 Years - Never make a head bigger than a melon
Until 12 April
Celebrating 140 years of artist-led education at Gray’s School of Art, this major exhibition features works by over 50 artists who have studied or worked at Gray’s.
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Cosmos: The Art of Observing Space
Until 19 April
This major art and science exhibition celebrates humanity’s enduring fascination with space. Bringing together historic and contemporary works, the exhibition includes pieces by Annie Cattrell RSA and Janette Kerr HRSA.
The Gallery at Linlithgow Burgh Halls, West Lothian
Species Morphology: A Living Archive, a solo exhibition by Stuart Mackenzie RSA
Until 17 May
This solo exhibition by Stuart Mackenzie RSA is his first since his 2019 show in the Academicians’ Gallery. Species Morphology investigates ecological and biological aspects of nature, examining the characteristics that distinguish one species from another.
Species Morphology installation view
Art Collection, University of Stirling
Art & Science Exhibition
Until 7 August
This exhibition includes Stuart Mackenzie RSA’s Species (Coelacanth) II, a print on loan from the RSA Collection, and Le Bouc, a painting by Alison Watt RSA, displayed in Scotland for the first time.
Opening This Month
Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine
Tides of Time
1 February – 3 May
Tides of Time brings together nine distinguished Academicians who all share a deep connection to Scotland’s maritime heritage. Artwork by John Bellany HRSA, Joan Eardley RSA, Ian Fleming RSA, Ian Hamilton Finlay RSA and Sylvia Wishart RSA are on display, alongside work by current Academicians Joyce W. Cairns PPRSA, Kate Downie RSA, Will Maclean RSA and Arthur Watson PPRSA.
S.J Peploe RSA, Still Life (1930). Image University of Aberdeen.
The Linklater Art Collection
2 February – 6 December
This exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of a bequest by Eric and Marjorie Linklater to the University of Aberdeen. An unusual domestic collection that frequently changed as works were sold and bought depending on the family’s finances, it includes works by Joan Eardley RSA, S. J. Peploe RSA, James Cowie RSA and Stanley Cursiter RSA.
Discovery Point & RRS Discovery, Dundee
Polar Portraits by Calum Colvin RSA
2 February – 31 December
Discovery Point is home to RRS Discovery; built and launched in Dundee in 1901 for Captain Scott and Ernest Shackleton’s first Antarctic voyage. On view throughout 2026 are two portraits by renowned Scottish artist Calum Colvin RSA, depicting two of polar exploration’s most recognisable figures, Captain Scott and Roald Amundsen.
Thomas Hosmer Shepherd, Royal Institution, from Hanover Street, Edinburgh
Scottish Society for Art History, Edinburgh
2026 Conference: Scottish Art and the Academy
5 – 6 February
The Scottish Society for Art History’s 2026 conference will explore our history while showcasing new research on artists connected to the Academy. Highlights include research on the development of the RSA and the Mound, the role conservators have working behind the scenes, artists’ residencies and studies of individual artists whose relationships with the Academy were complex or contested.
The Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, Edinburgh
145th RSW Open Annual Exhibition
15 February - 11 March
Scotland’s primary showcase of watercolour and water-based media will feature historical and contemporary work by artists that are or were both Members of the RSW and Academicians of the RSA, including loans from the RSA Collection.
FROM THE CLYDE TO SARAJEVO AND THE VENICE LAGOON
21 February - 31 May
Curated by Arthur Watson PPRSA, this exhibition shows how customs officer and artist George Wyllie was embraced by the Academy and backed by some of Scotland’s most eminent sculptors.
Keith McIntyre, Photo Kippin-Neate
An Lanntair, Stornoway, Eileanan Siar
Keith McIntyre RSA: What Lies Beyond
21 February – 28 March
Keith McIntyre RSA transforms the An Lanntair gallery into a congregation of boats, cairns and satellites, each operating as a conveyor of the soul.
Ilana Halperin: What is Us and what is Earth
27 February – 17 May
An exhibition of sculpture, drawing and photography from Glasgow based artist Ilana Halperin RSA, whose art seeks to make geological time human; to map the incomprehensible vastness of geological time and the natural world through the knowable familiarity of human experience.
February’s programme brings together exhibitions and events that speak to both our history and our continued commitment to contemporary art and architecture. As the RSA200 celebrations continue, we look forward to sharing more highlights from across the programme with you.
