Through several rounds of regional competitions in different parts of the UK professional and amateur artists are challenged to produce a
landscape; whilst the
portrait competition takes place in London where the contestants produce a picture of one of three famous sitters. The winning artist of each round, selected by three judges, advances to the semi-final and then to the final. The landscape competition is filmed on location; whilst the portrait competition is held at
Battersea Arts Centre. The winner of both series receives a £10,000 commission to paint either a famous landmark or a famous personality and the picture becomes part of a national collection. The show is produced by London and
Glasgow-based independent production company
Storyvault Films, and is currently presented by
Stephen Mangan, who joined for the sixth series replacing
Frank Skinner; until 2023 Skinner and then Mangan co-hosted the show with
Joan Bakewell (with the exception of
Portrait Artist programmes produced during the
COVID-19 pandemic, which Mangan hosted alone due to
social distancing precautions); Bakewell presented her final series of the show on Portrait Artist 2023 (Series 18 of the competition), in which she also appeared as a sitter in one of the episodes. Until 2026 the regular judges were the British art historian, curator and arts broadcaster
Kate Bryan, head of
contemporary art at the
Fine Art Society,
Kathleen Soriano, director of exhibitions at the
Royal Academy, and portrait/landscape painter
Tai-Shan Schierenberg. In 2026 a new judging panel was announced, with Eva Langret, director of
Frieze London, replacing Bryan from
Landscape Artist 2026 onwards, and Schierenberg and Soriano replaced on
Portrait Artist by artist
Jonathan Yeo and curator and historian
Katy Hessel from 2026 onwards; a refreshed format for
Landscape Artist from the 2027 series will be judged by Langret and Schierenberg, with
Fearne Cotton hosting alongside Mangan. ==Series==