David Hockney’s Harry Styles painting to go on display at National Portrait Gallery

4 August, 2023

Harry Styles attends The BRIT Awards 2023 and David Hockney attends the Gala Opening of "David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away)", 2023

A painting of Harry Styles, created by renowned English artist David Hockney, is set to be displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The painting is one of over 30 new portraits that will be showcased for the first time in the Trafalgar Square gallery. They will all be featured as part of a new installation, titled David Hockney: Drawing from Life, which will open on November 2.

The portrait of the pop star was created by the veteran artist in his art studio in Normandy, France, where Styles sat for him. It depicts the ‘Watermelon Sugar’ singer wearing blue jeans, a pearl necklace and an orange and red striped cardigan, sitting facing forward.

Other portraits set to feature in the upcoming display include a painting of Hockney’s late mother, Laura, fashion designer Celia Britwell, former partner Gregory Evans and people from his local community in Normandy.

Although the exhibition will see many of Hockney’s works being displayed publicly for the first time, this isn’t the first time that the collection has been showcased in the National Portrait Gallery. Back in 2020, the original collection of artwork was open for visitors, however only remained open for 20 days, with the gallery closing due to the pandemic.

As reported by The Independent, as well as having 33 new works, there are also colour-pencil drawings, created in Paris in the early 1970s, as well as a selection of drawings from the 1980s – made during a period where the artist created a self-portrait every day over a period of two months.

Combined, the exhibition will see a total of around 160 of Hockney’s works displayed, collected from both his public and private collections.

“Closing this five-star exhibition after just 20 days in 2020 was incredibly disappointing for the gallery and its many visitors,” said Sarah Howgate, senior curator of contemporary collections at the National Portrait Gallery.

“Now revitalised with over 30 new energetic and insightful painted portraits of friends and visitors to the artist’s Normandy studio, it is a real privilege to have the opportunity to collaborate with David Hockney again.”

Additionally, the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, Nicholas Cullinan, added: “Hockney is one of the most internationally respected and renowned artists today, and to see his new portraits, made over the last couple of years and which demonstrate his constant and continuing ingenuity and creative force, is life-affirming.”

Find out more about the exhibition and find out pre-order tickets here.

This isn’t the first time that Harry Styles has been represented in an artistic form in recent weeks. Last month, it was reported that there were seven new wax figures of the former One Direction member made for display in Madame Tussauds.

The majority of the looks captured in the waxworks are taken from looks Styles wore during his recently-concluded Love On Tour shows, and are set for display in London, New York, Hollywood, Amsterdam, Berlin, Singapore and Sydney.

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