Royal Academy to stage first major Richard Dadd retrospective in more than 50 years

The Royal Academy of Arts will present the first major retrospective of Victorian artist Richard Dadd in more than half a century when Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam opens in London on 25^th July. Bringing together around 100 paintings, watercolours and drawings, the exhibition traces the extraordinary life and work of one of Britain’s most enigmatic artists.

Best known for his intricately detailed fairy paintings inspired by Shakespeare, Dadd showed remarkable artistic promise from an early age before an extended journey through the Eastern Mediterranean in 1842 coincided with the onset of severe mental illness. After returning to England, he killed his father while experiencing delusions and spent the remaining four decades of his life in psychiatric institutions, where he continued to produce many of his most celebrated works.

Organised chronologically, the exhibition explores Dadd’s years as a student at the Royal Academy Schools, his travels and the paintings he created while a patient at Bethlem and Broadmoor hospitals. Highlights include Titania Sleeping, Contradiction. Oberon and Titania and his masterpiece The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke, the latter of which inspired Queen’s song of the same name. Sketchbooks, portraits and rarely seen works will also feature, offering a fuller picture of an artist whose imagination continued to flourish despite decades of institutionalisation.

Curated by Richard Dadd scholar Nicholas Tromans and Royal Academy associate curator Sylvie Broussine, the exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue featuring essays from leading historians and writers. 

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Image: Richard Dadd, Titania Sleeping, 1841. Photograph: © GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi

Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam is at the Royal Academy of Arts from 25^th July until 25^th October 2026. For further information or to book, visit the exhibition’s website here.