Exeter’s Fine Art gallery: Highlights from the Collection
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
When: 21 October 2026 to 17 January 2027
Where: Gallery 20
Time: 10:30 AM - 05:00 PM
Suitable for: Any age
This gallery is sometimes closed for events, please check before you travel on the day of your visit to avoid disappointment.
The fine art collection at RAMM is rich and varied. It consists of over 7000 paintings, prints, drawings, watercolours, miniatures and sculptures dating from the 1400s to the present day.
Works on display will span over 450 years and will change from time to time to show the breadth and diversity of the collection. It will include new acquisitions and visitor favourites as well as works rarely displayed before. Watercolours, photographs and prints may change more frequently to protect their colours from excessive light exposure.
This selection includes two of RAMM’s best known paintings, Portrait of a Man in a Red Suit and The Fair Toxophilites, as well as works by Richard Cosway, Lucy Kemp-Welch, William Etty and Barbara Hepworth.
A new acquisition of vintage photographs by renowned Exeter-based photographer Jem Southam are displayed for the first time. Southam’s work is notable for its technical excellence and lyrical quality. His use of large-format cameras and natural light results in images that are both detailed and evocative. A selection of images from four different photographic series made between 1996 and 2011 are on display. The four series are Lyme Bay, The Pond at Upton Pyne, Painter’s Pool, and River Winter. They provide unique insights into the evolving relationship between people and landscape in Exeter and East Devon.
Purchased with support from the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund, Art Fund and Friends of RAMM.
Find out about the related events: artist-photographer Jem Southam in-conversation with Contemporary Art Curator Lara Goodband and behind the scenes: Jem Southam’s photographs.
Featured images: Portrait of a Man in a Red Suit, artist unknown, oil on canvas, 1740-1780 and The Fair Toxophilites, William Powell Frith (1819-1909), oil on canvas, 1872.
Information about accessibility is available on our Access page.
Exhibition Gallery
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The Polish Navy in Devonport 1939 45
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Kingsbridge 1939 1945 : The Image and the Place
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23 March 2026 to 30 October 2026
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William Cookworthy : A Man of No Common Clay
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History off the Hanger
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14 February 2026 to 01 November 2026
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27 March 2026 to 01 November 2026
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'Our Killerton'
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31 March 2026 to 01 November 2026
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Let's Clay!
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14 October 2026 to 07 November 2026
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100 Years of Marilyn
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29 May 2026 to 20 November 2026
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Bampton Players 50 Years
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24 October 2026 to 02 January 2027
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David Nash
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14 November 2026 to 17 January 2027
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Exeter’s Fine Art gallery: Highlights from the Collection
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
21 October 2026 to 17 January 2027
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The Peopling of North Devon
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17 October 2026 to 30 January 2027
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21 July 2026 to 07 February 2027
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Living Labyrinths: Art and Fungi
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
03 October 2026 to 21 February 2027
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Insects Uncovered: Biodiversity in Newton Abbot Exhibition
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A Sense of Colour
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
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Bayeux Around Britain
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
15 September 2026 to 11 July 2027
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Charmaine Watkiss: From the ones who came before…
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
10 February 2026 to 10 October 2027
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Sherlock Holmes at Dartmoor Prison Museum
09 June 2026 to 30 April 2028
