A portrait of Lily Allen, part of a collection by Spanish artist Nieves Gonzalez has been unveiled at London’s National Portrait Gallery. The artwork is taken from Allen’s fifth album ‘West End Girl’ which was released in October 2025. The illustration of Allen dressed in a polka dot blue jacket and similarly patterned white boots, was made by Gonzalez in style of Dutch artist Rembrandt as part of a collection of images which accompanied the album. Allen gushed about Gonzalez’s contribution saying “Nieves captured the feel of the album so brilliantly and I knew immediately it would make a very strong album cover.”
‘West End Girl’ was a brutally honest retelling from Allen to events which led to dissolution of her marriage with US actor David Harbour. Received to mass critical acclaim, ‘West End Girl’ made the year end list for best album for Billboard, The Guardian, NME, The Rolling Store and Vogue amongst many other publications. Named as writer on all of the album’s fourteen tracks, Allen was praised for her “knack for making devastation sound exciting” and ‘West End Girl’ reached number two on the UK albums chart.
The artwork is owned by Allen was shown to the public at on March 19th and will remain there for one year. This is the third portrait of Lily Allen to be showcased in the historic London gallery, after pieces by Venetia Dearden in 2007 and Nadav Kander in 2008. The most recent instalment will be available to the public in Room 30 of the National Portrait Gallery amongst a collection which includes a multitude of likenesses of famous figures from William Shakespeare and Adele. National Portrait Gallery director Victoria Siddall said its collection “celebrates the people who have shaped our history and culture”, going on to name Allen as one of the defining voices of her generation.
During her career, Lily Allen has been nominated for a Grammy award, three Ivor Novello awards and twelve NME Awards. ‘West End Girl’ her first release in seven years also was nominated for the Brit Award for Album of the Year at the most recent ceremony in February. Allen is currently on tour to promote her latest album. Beginning in March, Allen has begun ‘Lily Allen: Performs West End Girl’ in the UK before she is scheduled to visit North American in April. Allen has a three night sinning at the London Palladium beginning tonight to finish out her UK leg. The popularity of ‘West End Girl’ has been so much that Allen upgraded theatre shows to areas across the United Kingdom and Ireland, as well as adding dates at the O2. Tickets are still available for some cities.
