Rose Wylie

The Picture Comes First

Published by Royal Academy of Arts
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
LIST PRICE $40.00

About The Book

Published to accompany an exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, from 28 February to 19 April, 2026, this book brings together leading authorities on Rose Wylie's work and many of her distinct images.

Rose Wylie OBE RA (b. 1934) lives and works in Kent. She paints from memory, frequently taking her imagery from mass media. Her large works on unstretched, unprimed canvas appear simple at first glance, but close inspection reveals them to be subtle meditations on the nature of visual representation. She regularly brings together apparently disparate images, creating visual rhymes and resonances that coalesce into unified compositions.

This new book, the catalogue of a large-scale exhibition at the Royal Academy, brings together leading authorities on Wylie’s work and a host of her unmistakable imagery.

About The Authors

Product Details

  • Publisher: Royal Academy of Arts (May 12, 2026)
  • Length: 160 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781915815224

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Raves and Reviews

"....Objects, eras, motifs and characters mingle easily in Wylie-world. Viewers usually fall for her paintings because they are so full of self and energy, but it is her ability to create collisions between wildly different things that is most remarkable, and most likely to take up permanent residence in your mind...."

– Exhibition review, Financial Times

"Wylie is prized for her vast, broad-brush canvases that playfully depict people and scenes that she picks up, magpie-style….” 

Harper’s Bazaar

"Looking at work by the British artist Rose Wylie, the words 'carefree' and 'genuine' come to mind. Her style is childlike, elementary in its execution, and instantly recognizable." 

Air Mail

"Pop culture, film references, football, art dinners, newspaper stories, biblical references – all are fodder for her rich imagination and love of life, a mischievous retelling of her traditional art-school background….[Wylie’s] selection, and her paintings, are defined by a freedom, from hierarchy and expectation. Wylie is an artist confident and joyful in her identity…."

– Exhibition review, Wallpaper

"Wylie’s work is irreverent, irrepressible, anarchic – and intensely charismatic. This is a blast."    

– Exhibition Review, The Telegraph

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