Book tickets for the RI's 208th Exhibition at the Mall Galleries

You can now book tickets for the 208th Exhibition 2020 of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours which opens at the Mall Galleries at 11am on Tuesday 1 September. 

This is five months to the day after I wrote Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours - 208th Annual Exhibition and Prizewinners - when we were in lockdown and knew the original exhibition dates were not possible but not when it might reopen.

It's the largest exhibition of watercolour paintings in the world - with over 400 of the best contemporary water-based media paintings.  More below about:

• how to book
• keeping people safe in the gallery
• more about the exhibition, prizewinners and RI workshops.

Here's George Butler, the chap who won the £3,000 Winsor & Newton Award for his painting of Delhi Market

Book your tickets - and donate too

Remember this is a not a "turn up when you feel like it" exhibition. 

You need a ticket for a timed slot in order to keep control of numbers in the gallery.

Guess who booked her ticket this morning!  (see below - don't fret - this screendump omits the critical info - which will be required for admission)

If you value the Mall Galleries as a venue for seeing annual exhibitions by national art societies and exhibitions for open art competitions can I RECOMMEND that you also make a donation to the Galleries when you get your ticket. They will have been closed for the last 5.5 months when they reopen on 1st September - and that's a long time when fixed costs of maintaining a building do not go away.

Keeping people safe

This is a reminder that there are various conditions to maintaining people's safety. These are listed on the reverse of the ticket

Essentially

• maintain 2 metres distance - so no gossipy huddles unless you came together from the same household
• you MUST wear a face covering inside the gallery
• the exhibition will work according to a one way system
• use the hand sanitiser available in the gallery
• the toilets will be cleaned more regularly than usual
• payments will be by card and ideally contactless

Remember also that neither the cafe nor the bookshop will be open - so bring your own water.

More about the Exhibition, Prizewinners and RI workshops

• The exhibition is open 11am to 5pm each day except Thursdays (3 & 10 September) when it's open until 7pm
• you can view the artwork in the exhibition online here
• see also my blog post back in April about the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours - 208th Annual Exhibition and Prizewinners
• Note: a number of workshops usually held in the exhibition are instead being held at the Heatherley School of Art in November - see this page for more details