This is about the call for entries for the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters – and why it’s a good idea to enter if you an aspiring portrait artist. It covers:
- reasons to enter
- who can enter
- what you can enter
- how to enter
- the timeline of important dates
Submissions are open until Tuesday 3 February 2026
You can also review my past blog posts about the RP Annual Exhibition over the last 19 years at the end.
Reasons why you should enter the RP’s annual exhibition
The “Portrait Artist of the Year” competition may attract a lot of entries from would-be portrait artists in the UK – and be on television – but only one artist gets to win.
The annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, on the other hand, welcomes new and emerging talent and ample space to give a boost to more than one artist.
The RP exhibition is an annual opportunity for artists who paint people to see their paintings hung alongside the work of their peers. As always, emerging and established talent is displayed together.
This “call for entries” gives all aspiring portrait painters:
- an opportunity to be hung in the same exhibition as some of the leading portrait painters in the UK
- a potential first step up on the ladder to becoming a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters
- access to an extremely well used commission service for portraits
- access to a much longer term payoff than an outing on television and not winning the top prize
For all those wondering whether and why they should submit an entry to this exhibition, take a look at the following.
Expert assessment of your portrait
- ALL drawings and paintings selected for exhibition from the Open Entry are chosen by practising professional portrait artists who are full artist members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters – and who use a variety of media. (click the link to check out their work)
- The Selection Committee is rotated annually.
- There are no administrators, sponsors, gallerists, art critics, television personalities or other such éminence grise who get a say on what gets hung.
- Judges are are looking for solid skills in portraiture – but they are not averse to new styles and innovation demonstrated by emerging talent.
A prestigious portraiture exhibition – in central London and online
This is a very prestigious exhibition within the international portrait world
- It fills all three galleries at the Mall Galleries on The Mall in London
- It attracts over 4,000 entries to the exhibition – including very many entries from international artists
- The exhibition is also put online so it can be seen all over the world.
An expert commissions service
- This exhibition generates a LOT of portrait commissions. This exhibition is much less about sales and much more about being a marketing shop window (e.g. 87 (40%) of the portraits exhibited last year were not for sale as they had been done as commissions and already had owners)
- An expert Commissions Consultant service runs throughout the show. Exhibiting artists are invited to
- display additional material
- advertise portrait commissions through the Commissions department – on which a commission will be payable.
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| The Commission Room at the 2024 Exhibition |
Entry is digital
- Hence you only need to go to the expense of framing and transport IF invited to progress to the second stage of selection. So entries which do not succeed only incur the expense of the submission fee.
Some significant prizes
This is an exhibition with some heavyweight and prestigious cash prizes.
- The total prize fund is £35,000, including The William Lock Portrait Prize (£20,000).
- It has the most valuable individual prizes awarded by any national art society in the UK.
- These include awards for younger artists and portrait drawing.
Your chances of getting selected
