April brings with it a vibrant programme of exhibitions, events and celebrations across Scotland and beyond. From emerging artistic voices in New Contemporaries to special bicentenary exhibitions by celebrated Academicians, discover what’s on this month.
What’s on at the RSA
Until 22 April
Now in its seventeenth year, RSA New Contemporaries is a unique opportunity to see some of the most promising talent in Scotland in one single, large-scale exhibition in the heart of Edinburgh. Showcasing 64 graduates selected from the 2025 degree shows, the exhibition is the best overview of the current outlook of emerging Scottish art and architecture.
RSA New Contemporaries, photo Julie Howden.
Until 26 April
The Academicians’ Gallery is pleased to present a selection of works by David Evans RSA (1942–2020). Renowned for his atmospheric hyperrealist paintings of seemingly mundane interior views, still lifes, building facades and street scenes, Evans transformed the everyday into moments of quiet intensity. His paintings grew from a fascination with light and mood that gives his work its distinctive stillness.
Celebrating Together
From major shows to community exhibitions and new commissions, explore the wide-reaching impact of the RSA and discover work taking place beyond the Academy’s walls this month.
Closing this month
An Ealdhain Arts Trust, Fort William, Inverness-shire
McCallum Arthouse for architecture show
Until 3 April
Ann Nisbet RSA (Elect) presents work at McCallum Arthouse.
Gray's School of Art: 140 Years - Never make a head bigger than a melon
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.
Friends of the Sivell Murals, Aberdeen
Lessons from a remarkably well illustrated anatomy textbook
Until 29 April
A display demonstrating how skilled artists enhanced the learning environment of a medical faculty.
Currently on view
Scottish Maritime Museum, North Ayrshire
Tides of Time: Scotland's Maritime Heritage Through the RSA
Until 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.
Calum Wallis
An Tobar and Mull Theatre, Isle of Mull
Calum Wallis: The Ground Shakes
Until 15 May
Calum Wallis received an RSA Residency for Scotland in 2022. At An Tobar, he’s presenting new works that take a geological journey across Scotland, using the Highland Boundary and Great Glen fault lines as way markers for an exploration of a land that is in a constant cycle of change.
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.
Ilana Halperin, What is Us and What is Earth. Installation view, Fruitmarket, 2026. Courtesy the artist and Patricia Fleming Gallery. Photo: Ruth Clark.
Ilana Halperin: What is Us and what is Earth
Until 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.
George Macpherson RSA: Ceòl na Tìr-dhàimh | The Music of Home
Until 17 May
First exhibited at the RSA in 2025, this exhibition showcases paintings by George Macpherson RSA. George’s abstract works express the textures and sounds of nature, the magic of the Highland landscape and the warmth of Gaelic song and dance; elements garnered from the artist’s childhood near the River Shin.
Gray's School of Art, Aberdeen
Into the Light
Until 24 May
Twin sculptures by Keith Rand RSA from Aberdeen Art Gallery’s collection are the inspiration for Into the Light, an exhibition of new works by Members of Aberdeen Artists Society.
The Wyllieum, Inverclyde, From The Clyde to Sarajevo & The Venice Lagoon
From The Clyde to Sarajevo & The Venice Lagoon
Until 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.
Low Parks Museum, South Lanarkshire
WOMEN – Women in Art
Until May
Shetland Museum & Archives, Lerwick
Outwith | Valda, MacDiarmid and Whalsay
Until 20 June
Outwith will focus on the nine years (1933–1942) poet Hugh MacDiarmid and his wife Valda spent on the Shetland island of Whalsay, exploring how the island influenced their lives and work despite persistent challenges. Featured items will include original manuscripts and personal letters on loan from NLS, visual art from artists Alexander Moffat RSA and Ruth Nicol, and images drawn from private family collections.
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh: Scottish NHS Arts Partners Touring Exhibition
31 March – 24 June
Bellfield Centre, Stirling: Scottish NHS Arts Partners Touring Exhibition
Until 28 June
This touring exhibition will highlight works by RSA Academicians and award winners, showcasing art's powerful connection to health and wellbeing and inviting audiences from across Scotland to engage with and appreciate visual art, creating uplifting and healing environments for patients, visitors and NHS staff.
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.
Rachel Maclean RSA (Elect), O, they serve you get (2026). Digital image. Courtesy of the artist
Rachel Maclean: They've Got Your Eyes
Until 16 August
They’ve Got Your Eyes is a major new commission and free exhibition by Scottish artist Academician Rachel Maclean RSA (Elect), featuring the world premiere of a film created using AI models trained on her own image and artistic archive.
Living Colour: Celebrating 200 Years of the Royal Scottish Academy
Until 6 September
Living Colour celebrates two centuries of remarkable Scottish artistry. The exhibition features carefully crafted still lifes, elegant portraits, beautiful landscapes and thought-provoking abstracts from 19th and 20th century Scottish art.
National War Museum, Edinburgh
Joyce W. Carins PPRSA | Maps: Memories from the Second World War
Until 4 October
The exhibition Maps: Memories from the Second World War features Father's Memorabilia, North West Europe, part one of a diptych by Joyce W. Carins PPRSA, created as part of her influential War Tourist project.
Inverleith House
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
Earth Matters: Seeing soil through art
Until 1 November
Marking 300 years since the birth of James Hutton, the Edinburgh-born geologist, farmer and thinker who revolutionised our understanding of Earth’s creation, this exhibition features work by Academicians Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Joan Eardley, Ilana Halperin and Graeme Todd.
University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen
Aberdeen Artworlds: The Linklater Collection
Until 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, it includes works by Joan Eardley RSA, S. J. Peploe RSA, James Cowie RSA and Stanley Cursiter RSA.
Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum, Dunfermline
The Carnegie Travelling Scholarship: A celebration of Andrew Carnegie and the Royal Scottish Academy
Until 13 December
For over 120 years, the RSA Carnegie Travelling Scholarship has supported artists in Scotland. This exhibition will showcase the range of artists awarded the scholarship from its inception to the present day.
RRS Discovery
Discovery Point & RRS Discovery, Dundee
Polar Portraits by Calum Colvin RSA
Until 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.
Opening this month
OneRen – Paisley Museum, Renfrewshire
In Conversation: Eddi Reader & Pamela Blair on Your Cheatin’ Heart and the Legacy of John Byrne
2 April
This free event at Paisley Town Hall celebrates Paisley artist and playwright John Byrne RSA (1940–2023).
Power from the Glens: James Shearer RSA & Contemporaries
2 April - 3 May
This exhibition brings together large-scale artworks on loan from SSE’s collection of stunning watercolours, detailed architectural drawings, and engineering plans from James Shearer RSA and his contemporaries.
Joan Eardley, Summer Fields, c.1961. © Estate of Joan Eardley. All Rights Reserved. DACS, London, 2025
National Galleries Scotland: Modern
Joan Eardley | The Nature of Painting
2 April - 28 June
Discover Eardley’s oil paintings alongside works by artists including Samuel John Peploe RSA, William McTaggart RSA and Phoebe Anna Traquair HRSA, as well as contemporaries Bet Low RSA and Antoni Tàpies HRSA.
The Scottish Colourists Revealed
3 April - 26 October
See the Scottish Colourists as you’ve never seen them before in a new exhibition at Perth Art Gallery celebrating rare paintings by four of the most important Scottish artists of the 20th century, some of which have never before been on public display.
R&A World Golf Museum, St Andrews
Masterstrokes: 200 Years of Scottish Golfing Art
3 April 2026 – 21 March 2027
Visit the R&A World Golf Museum, where you can enjoy paintings and prints, photography and architecture, sculpture and sketches from the RSA Collections and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, as well as significant pieces from Fife Cultural Trust and the Museum’s own collections.
Aghaidh Ris An Achadh: Facing the Field – Fraser MacBeath
4 April – 16 May
Fraser MacBeath is an audiovisual artist, composer and field recordist from the Isle of Lewis. He won the RSA Benno Schotz Prize for the most promising work by a Scottish artist under 35 at the Royal Scottish Academy 197th Annual Exhibition.
Elizabeth Blackadder RSA, Self Portrait with Cat, 1976
Hugo Burge Foundation, Scottish Borders
HBF x Royal Scottish Academy Visual Art Residency
15 April - 13 May
Siobhan McLaughlin, the recipient of the Hugo Burge Foundation x Royal Scottish Academy Visual Art Residency will ‘live’ with Elizabeth Blackadder’s Self Portrait with Cat, displayed within her private studio space.
Cupar Museum & Heritage Centre, Fife
Four Paintings, a Scandal and an Angel
15 April - 30 October
This exhibition tells the story of Charles Lees - his background, career and the scandal of his runaway marriage.
Street Level Photoworks, Glasgow
Craig Easton 'An Extremely Un-get-atable Place'
16 April
This event features internationally acclaimed photographer Craig Easton, who will give a presentation on his new book An Extremely Un-get-atable Place, which re-imagines the life of writer George Orwell on the Isle of Jura where he wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four.
John Gray Centre, East Lothian
An exhibition of paintings by John Bellany HRSA
17 April - 19 September
This exhibition is being curated by Helen Bellany, the wife of John Bellany and Alexander Moffat RSA who was a lifelong friend of John Bellany.
Whether you’re visiting us in Edinburgh or exploring exhibitions across the country, April offers countless ways to connect with Scotland’s artists and architects. We look forward to welcoming you soon.
