The Royal Academy of Art has amassed an immense collection of American works from galleries and private collections (over 100 lenders in total) which include works by artists such as Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Janet Sobel to name just a few.

Abstract Expressionism is widely known as a ground-breaking moment in the formation of modern art. Artists no longer wanted to recreate scenes from life but wanted their spectators to experience paintings physically - for us to 'feel' their emotion through the medium of paint, sculpture and so on. Their often aggressive gestural marks also filled the entirety of the canvas, dispensing with the traditional ideas of composition and geometry. Artists like Jackson Pollock poured, dripped and spilt paint, pushing materials to become free and almost overtake the artist's hand. What was also revolutionary about this way of working was that by desiring physical feelings from their viewer, the Abstract Expressionists weren't creating work just for academics or theorists, but art for all.

There will be some amazing works on display - icons from the movement by the likes of Pollock and Rothko. There's also an assurance that the gender imbalance will be rectified by the inclusion of significant female painters including Janet Sobel and Lee Krasner.

The exhibition will open in September this year.

We visited ‘Painting The Modern Garden’ … While Monet is at the centre of this exhibition, there are works by Renoir, Cezanne, Pissarro, Van Gogh, Matisse and Klimt to name a few. The exhibition promises to help you see ‘the garden in art with fresh eyes’ and its doesn’t disappoint.

Interestingly the natural garden subject seems to have enabled many of these avant-garde artists to work with a greater freedom than before, freeing their palettes and their brushstrokes. Throughout he exhibition you are greeted with Monet’s stunning gardens until ending in a grand finale; Monet’s great pastel coloured waterlily paintings.

The exhibition opens with a beautiful comparison - Monet's 'The Artist's Garden in Argenteuil' (pictured below left) is placed beside Renoir's painting of Monet painting in the very garden in Argenteuil (pictured below right). This sets the tone for the exhibition, an affirmative statement about the impact Monet had on his fellow impressionists and hints that he influenced not only the garden subject matter but the act of painting en plein air.

There are some beautiful works by a less famous name, Spanish artist Santiago Rusinol. His paintings are more structured than the Impressionist works on display and convey spectacular modelling of light, like this work below which evokes the brilliant glow of sunset.

We thought it would be lovely to also share with you some images of Monet's garden in Giverny. These are the gardens Monet spent nearly forty years in his house in Giverny, a period many argue were his most creative. In 1883 he and his family rented the house with its 2 acre land and by 1890 he had saved enough to buy it and the surrounding land. As an avid gardener himself, Monet worked alongside his gardeners and created precise designs and layouts for his garden's planting, resulting in a stunning display. Over time he built up the land, eventually buying a water meadow which he plated up with water lilies. These became the subject of his best known works and the water meadow is now one the garden's most popular features.