Review: £10,000 Commission for Landscape Artist of the Year 2025

This post follows on from my review of the Final of Landscape Arrtist of the Year - see Ben MacGregor wins Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 - and deals with all aspects of the Commission.

This post is about:

• the challenge of the Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 10) commission
• the Commission Programme
• the Commission Painting produced by the winner of Landscape Artist of the Year 2025

I confess part of this review is also part guide to the places Ben visited - because I've visited them too!

The Commission Challenge

Every year a different organisation provides both the brief and budget for the commission. 

For the 10th Anniversary, the production team were looking for a prestigious client and commission

I wrote about the Commission Challenge back in April 2024 in 10th Anniversary Prize Commission for Landscape Artist of the Year

Last week Sky Arts announced the organisation which will receive the commission and the location of the 10th Anniversary Prize Commission for the next series of Landscape Artist of the Year has been announced.

• The Courtauld Gallery will be the recipient of the £10,000 Prize Commission - meaning the winner will have their commission painting hung in the Courtauld. (You can see online versions of paintings in the Courtauld Collection - but always best to visit to see the real thing and appreciate its impact)
• The location for the Commission will be the South of France

Following in the footsteps of famous painters like Monet, Cezanne and Van Gogh, the winning artist will travel to the south of France to create a work inspired by one of the most famous coastlines in the word.

Ben visiting the Gallery holding the Permanent Collection of the Courtauld Gallery

Ben Macgregor visited the Courtauld Gallery to meet Barnaby Wright, Deputy Head of The Courtauld Gallery and Curator of 20th Century Art. 

He advised Ben of what the £10,000 Commission Challenge comprised and how it related to three important paintings in the Courtauld Collection (see below)

Ben Macgregor getting his briefing from Barnaby Wright

What we would like you to do is to go to those different sites where those three artists painted and were so inspired and produce your own contemporary response to those three landscapes.

Barnaby Wright

Wow - you've just given me goosebumps!

Ben MacGregor

I thought it was a very challenging commission. I could see the rationale behind it but it would have had my stomach doing somersaults of it had been me!

The Commission Programme

Ben MacGregor wins Landscape Artist of the Year 2025

This review is about the Final of Series 10 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 which was won by Ben MacGregor.

Final of Series 10 of Landscape Artist of the Year 
The Artists and Stonehenge - early morning

The Final of Series 10 of Landscape Artist of the Year (2025) was held at Stonehenge last summer - and was broadcast on Sky Arts last Wednesday. 

Following this review of the Final, there are two more posts to go 

• Review of the Commission (after I've got the stepladders out, rescued my holiday photos and found the ones where I visited Cezanne's studio!)
• Review of the Series as a whole.

About this post

Below you can read about

• Artists in the Final
• Venue: Where/when the Final was held plus observations about the subject
• Observations, Themes and Tips
• Decision Time: 
• The Commissions
• The Final Paintings
• The final decision
• The Winner

As always the programme about the Final is always something of a bit of an odd show since

• 5 other participants are missing
• there is the need to recap the journey to the Final
• plus a more indepth profile of each artist AND
• the story of the three artists doing a commission between the semi-finals and the Final

You can find all my reviews of previous programmes in this series at the end of this post. Plus how to apply for the next series which will be filmed this summer in six heats in three places around the UK.

The Final

The Finalists (left to right):
Kieran Guckian, Susan Isaace and Ben MacGregor

The three artists in the Final were - in order of the heats they won - were:

• HEAT 1: Ben McGregor (Instagram + new Instagram account post broadcast) - a self-taught amateur artist based in London. Born in 1979, he grew up in Surrey. He began to be interested in art when in 2015 he returned to the UK after working overseas. He now runs a luxury bespoke furniture company. He's never studied art formally but has, instead, studied artists whose work he liked - including post-impressionists and more contemporary painters.
• HEAT 3: Kieran Guckian (Instagram) - Born in Dublin, Kieran attended Crawford College of Art and Design graduating with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art Painting. He switched from his career in web design to becoming a full time artist a year prior to the heat - so this was a big opportunity for him.
• HEAT 4: Susan Isaac (Instagram) - Born in Cardiff and now based on a farm in Nottinghamshire. Her initial training in fine art & sculpture was followed by a Design History degree, an Industrial Archaeology Masters and an early career as an historic buildings investigator. She is an artist and sculptor and has won several awards. Her submission was a painting of "Senate House Passage, Cambridge" (a place I know well). Previously she has been a wild card winner in 2021 and a shortlisted ‘pod’ contestant in 2022

The Final: Location and Timing

The Pods at Stonehenge

On the face of it, when the programme started, the choice of iconic megalithic Stone Circle seems rather a good one. I'd guessed they'd start very early and the early morning mist seemed very appropriate to the place - and provided no clues as to what the weather would be like!

Then we began to realise just how far the Pods were from the stones. Look at how tiny the pods are below - and how faw away from the Circle they are.

Distance between the Stone Circle and the Pods

......and then the visitors started to arrive.  Loads of them!

So not only were the Pods at some distance - but they also had a steady stream of visitors in view - between the stones and the pods. All day long!

I thought Sky Arts might have shelled out and booked the place for the whole day - from 9.30am to 7pm - and then somebody told me what the admission ticket cost! 

• the filming was during the standard season of June to August if filmed between Monday and Friday (if it had been at the weekend it would have been peak season!)
• a Family Ticket - for 2 adults and up to 3 children would be £72.50
• two adults would cost £56 on the day
• so the likely cost to hire the place for the day must be well in excess of £50,000 

You only need to look at the numbers visiting - which was a steady stream through out the day to realise that booking the place to have no visitors would have been a high five if not a six figure sum.

So the artists watched a steady stream of visitors and the sun did not come out giving them a very flat grey light throughout the day - reducing the scope for contrast and edge interest.

Observations, Themes and Tips

LAOTY 2025: Meet the Heat Winners and Wildcard Winners PLUS View the Commission Painting!

This is about:

• Interviews with all the Heat Winners and Wildcard winners in Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 10) - now available on Cass Arts website
• How to view the Commission Painting - now hanging at the Courtauld Gallery
• My reviews of the Final and the Commission programme

Interviews with the Artists

For those who have been following Series 10 of Landscape Artist of the Year (2025), you'll be interested to know that interviews with participating Artists can now be found on the Cass Artists blog in this post Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year Series 10: Meet the Artists

Heat 1: Ben McGregor with his submission

The article covers Heats 1 to 6 and

• all the Heat Winners
• all the Wildcard Winners

and has quite lengthy text about each one. 

Very definitely a "get a cup of tea and find a comfy chair" long read!

If you want to see the Commission Painting

The winner's Commission Painting inspired by three locations associated with Monet, Cezanne and Van Gogh in the South of France is now hanging in the Courtauld Gallery.

You can read more about where it is and how to view it in Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 winning commission now on display at The Courtauld Gallery

Note that Goya to Impressionism is SOLD OUT until 30th March.

It's priced admission and don't forget there are a limited number of "walk up" tickets which enable to go free as a Friend of the Courtauld or if you have an Art Fund National Art Pass. Otherwise an adult is £10 to see the Permanent Collection

If you also want to see the current Goya to Impressionism, you'll be waiting a while as it is currently booked out for a few weeks.

My reviews of the Final and the Commission Programme

I'm still feeling fairly wiped out following my partner's very sudden emergency admission to hospital last Friday and his five day stay. Coupled with the fact I went to hospital again yesterday for my outpatient appointment and now have to work out how I'm going to continue blogging in a couple of months after my left shoulder replacement operation! (Arm in sling for six weeks!)

So I'm having a quiet day today and tomorrow and will be hoping to publish as follows

• Sunday - Review of the Final
• Monday - Review of the Commission (after I've got the stepladders out, rescued my holiday photos and found the ones where I visited Cezanne's studio!)
• Tuesday or Wednesday - Review of the Series as a whole

I hope you'll be back to read them despite the fact the Series has now finished.

Review: Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 - Semi Finals at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

This is a formal Review of the Semi Finals of Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 (Series 10) which took place and was filmed at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in July 2024.

The seven semi final paintings - and one print

Last Wednesday, the semi finals of Landscape Artist of the Year 2025 was broadcast. I then watched it again the next day and started to write this review. 

However my partner then intervened and what was due to be a quick finish off on Friday morning has turned into an even quicker finish off on Wednesday afternoon six days later. Inbetween, I've spent most of that time either in A&E at the Royal London Hospital with his medical emergency or trying to catch up on sleep or sort things out post discharge. Anyway, enough of that.....

This was quite possibly the worst Semi Final of Landscape Artist of the Year I've ever seen - and was particularly notable for how many of us drifted off to sleep while watching it.

This review includes a lot of comments from people who were once avid fans of the show - but who feel it could be so much better than the tired, self-indulgent version we now see on our screens.

I feel that this series has truly lost the plot. (comment on FB)

The judges seem to delight in making life difficult for the artists, cackling at the thought of their plans going awry as the tide came in. It feels almost sadistic to me: does making the heat as difficult as possible for the artists make good telly? (comment on FB)

I've watched the program over many years too and to doze off and come to as they announce final three is a first for me. (comment on FB)

Location and Weather

Yes - it was yet another one of those ludicrous locations which this series chooses for its semi-finals. 

Complete with a tide which was coming in.

None of them are thrilled with the Challenge (Judge)

They were all out of their comfort zone and certainly out of their depth. (Observation on FB)

What a ridiculous subject for the semi final. Especially given what the commission is. I haven’t got a problem with the concept of urban as opposed to organic/countryside landscape, but this is more akin to a still life. (Observation on FB)

Dealing with tidal changes in a natural landscape is already a challenge, but in this environment it’s setting them up for a challenge that needs more than 4 hours.
They will never get the best out of artists in this way.It was not fun to watch. (I did have to go back to watch the bits I slept through and didn’t feel it was really worth it in the end) (Observation on FB)

The location was Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The pods were on the concrete slipway below the jetty which goes out to and partially obscures HMS Warrior.

Those pods - at the bottom of the pic - and sitting very low down on a slipway
well below the jetty which hides the bottom part of HMS Warrior

Below is the very tight view of HMS Warrior in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. 

If you look at it on Google maps, the artists had a very narrow field of view: restricted by a massive boat house on their right, and the Mary Rose museum on their left. They had no choice but to paint either the long pier with HMS Warrior hidden behind it or the more industrial-looking pier on the right. I thought Ben made the best of a terrible situation - I think I'd have walked off set!. (comment on FB)

Problems with the location of the Artists Pods were as follows: 

Artwork I liked at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2025

I promised another post about the art I liked in the Annual Exhibition 2025 of the Royal Society of British Artists.

This is probably the most electic of all the art societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists BA Exhibitions - whose home is at the Mall Galleries. 

This is because their media spans drawings and paintings in every media, all manner of fine art hand pulled prints, and sculpture in various media.

As a result, if frequently gets large and imposing works which are absolutely impossible to ignore.

"Capital at Risk: Drawing the City of London (pen and ink, 1.5m x 2.5m) by Louis Pohl
and
"Effects of Lockdown" (cardboard, 170x45x45cm) by James Lake

Two such this year that I found absolutely unmissable in the East Gallery (above) were:

• Louis Pohl's very large and incredibly impressive pen and ink drawing of "Capital at Risk: Drawing the City of London (1.5m x 2.5m) 
• James Lake's Cardboard sculpture of "Effects of Lockdown" (170x45x45cm)

I work with cardboard for its immediacy, ease of availability and low environmental impact. My disability and dyslexia have also influenced my choice of material and the way I create my sculptures. For over twenty years I have created life-size three-dimensional portraits of people.

There is just so much to look at in Louis's drawing - in terms of both realism and allegory and just sheer expertise in the use of pen and ink for drawing people! I was extremely surprised that it did not get a prize for the ambition and the story-telling. As in "truly gobsmacked"!

By way of contrast, James Lake's sculpture won The Nathan David Award for Sculpture.

I also spotted a style I recognised straight away in the East Gallery - although I've not seen it in some time. It's very memorable.

"The Sky" by Ana Schmidt 
Acrylic 73x 65cm

"The Sky" by figurative artist Ana Schmidt reminded me a lot of the much larger painting she created which  won the £20000 Columbia Threadneedle Award 2018 for contemporary figurative and representational art. She is amazing at painting urban landscapes with huge sheets of water or puddles which reflect the sky.

In the North Gallery, there were two paintings which both immediately captured my attention.