David Hockney shares exclusive portrait of Harry Styles for exhibition in National Portrait Gallery

The portrait will officially be unveiled during the second iteration of the National Portrait Gallery’s Hockney exhibition Drawing From Life, which first opened in February 2020. The exhibition was forced to close weeks later due to the pandemic.

The show is set to return on 2 November, with the addition of a new room of pictures which document Hockney’s creative impulses throughout lockdown.

Sarah Howgate, senior curator of contemporary collections at the National Portrait Gallery is pleased to know the exhibition will have another life, as "the whole world shut down, and the exhibition was still sitting there, in the dark."

David Hockney: Drawing from Life returns this autumn.

📆 2 November 2023 – 21 January 2024

Pre-book your tickets now: https://t.co/xfn7M15HK8 pic.twitter.com/v6XUVGSA5w

— National Portrait Gallery (@NPGLondon) August 2, 2023

The collaboration with Styles came about through one of Hockney's recent subjects, Clive Davis, who suggested he invite the Harry's House singer to meet him.

“Clive told me about Harry’s new album, and JP [Hockney’s studio assistant] sent Harry a note and asked him if he’d like to come to my studio and sit for his portrait,” Hockney recalled. “He replied straight away and said, yes, he’d love to.” Admittedly, Hockney didn't know much about Styles: “I wasn’t really aware of his celebrity then,” he says. “He was just another person who came to the studio...Now I know Harry’s a celebrity, though: I’ve seen all his music videos.”

“He’s not a traditional portrait painter,” says Howgate. “He’s not interested in fame. He’s interested in depicting people and their relationships.” Styles is said to be "in awe" of Hockney, and feels lucky to have been painted by him.

The portrait of Styles will hang alongside those of writer Gregory Evans, Hockney’s printer Maurice Payne, the mayor of his local town Dozulé, his gardener and even his chiropodist.