The Royal College of Art Collection is an invaluable resource of over 1,000 works that represent significant developments in British painting from the middle years of the previous century to the present.

The Collection began when the painter Sir William Rothenstein was appointed Rector in 1920, but the major developments were made from the 1950s. The tradition of adding staff and graduating students' paintings, drawings and prints to the Collection continues, making it a vibrant and growing reflection of key moments in the development of twentieth- and twenty-first -century British Art.

In the early days of the Collection, Rothenstein contributed his own Self Portrait, as well as acquiring Standing Male Nude by Willam Etty, followed by the works of Paul Nash (a member of staff at the time), Edward Bawden, Eric Ravilious and John Piper (all students of the College). Of particular note from this era is Edward Bawden Working in his Studio by Eric Ravilious. From an artist known primarily for his watercolours and prints, the portrait of Bawden is of interest because it is one of only two works in tempera.

The appointment of Sir Robin Darwin as Rector in 1948 saw a radical shift in the direction of the Painting School, which was led first by Rodrigo Moynihan and later Carel Weight. The concerns of the painters in that era were encapsulated in the ‘Kitchen Sink School’ of work by artists including Edward Middleditch, John Bratby and Jack Smith. This in turn affected the profile of the Collection, which includes from this period Jack Smith’s Interior with Child, Auerbach’s Earls Court Building Site, Kossoff’s Untitled (Willesden Junction) and Richard Smith’s Yellow, Yellow.

Darwin himself contributed to the Collection, and his gifts include Stanley Spencer’s The Wine Harvest and a drawing, Design for a Fan, by Camille Pissarro. Inspired by this generosity, Carel Weight and John Minton both contributed examples of their own work and succeeded in arranging for the addition of The Sandpit, Coldharbour by Lucien Pissarro. On his death, Minton bequeathed a number of works to the Collection, including Lucien Freud’s Portrait of John Minton.

Contributions to the Collection from the late 1950s and early 1960s reflect the influential position of the College in the development of Pop and Op Art and this era is represented by Peter Blake’s Children Reading Comics and Hockney’s I’m in the Mood for Love. The set work that students were asked to do as part of the curriculum also features in the Collection, including Blake’s The Preparation for the Entry into Jerusalem and Patrick Caulfield’s Christ at Emmaus.

The mid-1960s to mid-1970s saw another transition in the philosophy of the Painting School, and consequently the nature of the works contributed to the Collection. Of this era, works by John Bellany, Stephen Farthing, Graham Crowley, Andrezej Jackowski, Lucy Jones and Paul Storey are included in the collection.

More recent contributions to the Collection include work donated by graduating students Dinos Chapman, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin, Tim Stoner and Sophie von Hellerman.

The artists represented in the Collection are of historical and contemporary interest, nationally and internationally, and a significant resource for those wishing to understand the development of British fine art since the 1950s. Pieces are regularly loaned to other institutions and exhibitions.