The portrait featured on the cover of Lily Allen's album West End Girl, released via BMG, has been loaned by Allen to London's National Portrait Gallery, and will go on public display as part of the Gallery's contemporary Collection display.
The painting shows Allen seated against a dark background, wearing a baby blue puffer jacket with white polka dots. Allen commissioned the painting from Nieves González and subsequently used it as the cover art for West End Girl.
"I'm so pleased to make this special painting available for everyone to see," Allen said. "Nieves captured the feel of the album so brilliantly and I knew immediately it would make a very strong album cover. It seems to me the portrait reflects so many facets of the album - strength, power, vulnerability, determination and confusion, amongst many others - that it acts as a key to the whole listening experience. I love it."
González commented, "This work reflects how art and music come together in the act of creation, with all its layers and facets. The fact that the National Portrait Gallery is going to exhibit this piece is overwhelming. This West End girl has become something more than an image, and I feel enormously fortunate to have been part of that journey.
Victoria Siddall, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, added, The National Portrait Gallery's Collection celebrates the people who have shaped our history and culture, and Lily Allen is undoubtedly one of the defining voices of her generation. I am delighted to show Nieves González's extraordinary portrait of Lily on our walls. It is such a striking work, deeply rooted in classical tradition yet unmistakably contemporary, and it has fast become an iconic image. I know it will resonate powerfully with our audiences."
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