MA Painting

To provide prospective students with opportunities to find out about the RCA experience and programmes we run a number of on-campus and online open days  as well as events in various countries around the world. You can find out about upcoming events or watch replays of past open days on the  RCA website .

MA Painting at the Royal College of Art is a world-leading, studio-based MA programme with a successful record of turning out artists working at the forefront of the discipline and of international standing. Through our innovative approaches to teaching and learning, we foster a student to consider painting as a creative, self-reflexive, and critical activity that draws on a wealth of diverse historical, material and conceptual disciplinary resources as it thrives in the 21st century. We explore these values together as we share our practices and research while supporting our own in a collaborative culture comprised not so much by staff and students but as professional artists and peers. These activities take place across an expansive and inclusive platform that engages with current issues and debates around the painting as both a medium with a deep and resourceful history and as a vibrant and invigorating contemporary art practice that brings a critical perspective to social and cultural issues that range across global cultures represented by the diversity of the cohort of RCA painting students.

MA Painting supports the development of your research interests as a foundation for your practice and creation. Staff will foster and advance your ability to reflect critically on your studio work in a context that embraces experimentation, innovation and sustainable technical and conceptual gains expressed in the medium. We support the development of your professional practice, as your skills progress in making and presenting work through different modes, to professional and public audiences, within and beyond the institutional frame.

How will I learn?

In the MA Painting programme, you will receive a wide range of inputs from a diversity of positions and voices. Through individual tutorials and group critiques, online group seminars, workshops, artist talks and the presentation of work, you are offered a wealth of opportunities to understand and advance your studio practice informed by the perspectives of your peers, faculty, and invited contributors. The painting studios are an important site for these conversations, as are the artists’ studios, commercial galleries and public art institutions that the vibrant, culturally rich city of London offers.

The MA Painting staff is comprised of full-time working artists and diverse accomplished visiting artists of international standing, who work across a diverse range of media, each with a specialist research focus within the discipline. Although not seen as an end in itself, the programme continues to respect technical skills and supports you to find an appropriate technical resolution for your work in order to enhance the materialisation of your ideas, the communication of these ideas, and the clarity of your concepts and images.

As a team, we are committed to supporting you to refine your research base for your practice and enabling you to forge a sustainable and engaged professional practice situated in the creative economy and art ecosystem.

Meet the RCA

We host a range on online and on-campus open days as well as recruitment event in cities around the world. These events can include 1-to-1 meets and portfolio advice, informal chats, presentations and sessions with staff, students and alumni. Check the  Check the RCA event webpage  for details of upcoming events.

Next on-campus open day: Saturday 20 January, 2024.

Make change at the world’s #1 university for art and design.

The Royal College of Art is the world’s leading art and design university, having been ranked for eight consecutive years as the world’s number 1 art & design university in the QS World University subject rankings (2015-2023). Our postgraduate programmes enable you to tackle complex issues, push the boundaries of your practice, build your networks, and find your voice as a professional in a changing world.

Committed to creating the next generation of artists, designers, researchers, creators, and innovators, the RCA’s world-leading academic staff will guide and challenge you to push the boundaries of your practice. As the world’s largest community of postgraduate art and design students, you will be part of a collective of inspirational creative peers opening up new opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration. The RCA offers a Graduate Diploma conversion program and Master’s, MPhil, MRes, and PhD degrees. Based on the four Schools of Architecture, Arts & Humanities, Communication, and Design, the broad range of disciplines on offer is based on a strong foundation of practice-based research and integrates STEAM subjects - Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics - providing a unique and transformative experience.

"I mainly expected this experience to help me develop my architectural skills, however, it has given me much more than just that. It has transformed the way I think as an individual as well as an architect and helped me make decisions about my future career." Ameneh Solati, MA Architecture, 2015 -17

Our Global Creative Community

Students come to the College from across the globe and bring with them a wide range of backgrounds, educational approaches, and experiences - Due to the cross-disciplinary nature of our work, and our growing range of courses, nearly 25% of students now come to the RCA with a Bachelor's degree in a subject other than art and design. Studying here means you'll be part of a network of inspiring students in a city known for creative culture, and part of the RCA’s rich history since its formation in 1837. Both the RCA and London as a whole are hubs of activity; full of places where you can socialize, explore, and make new discoveries.

Our London campus is spread throughout the heart of one of the world’s most creative cities, with sites in the historic surroundings of Kensington, the future-thinking hub of White City, and the cultural quarter in Battersea. Our facilities and technical equipment are amongst the best of their kind in the world and support students in their explorations of the creative possibilities of both new and innovative and traditional craft skills.

Scholarships and funding

The RCA offers a wide range of scholarships and bursary schemes, open to UK and International students, and across our full range of courses. Visit our website for more information about our schemes and how to apply for them. There are also Government funded options for both our Master's degrees and our doctoral research Programmes (for UK students).

Where will the RCA take you?

Whatever your creative career aspirations, the RCA can help you realize them. A qualification from the world’s number-one ranked university for Art and design has proven invaluable to the careers and practice of thousands of graduates . You too could be part of our international network of creative individuals who have shaped, and continue to shape, the world surrounding us, and address some of the biggest global challenges of our time.