Elizabeth Peyton: Aire and Angels, National Portrait Gallery

To coincide with its exhibition on the Pre-Raphaelite sisters, the National Portrait Gallery is staging a free show of American artist Elizabeth Peyton's work. Based in New York, Peyton rose to prominence in the mid-nineties with paintings of her close friends and lovers. Over forty portraits will go on display in this show, building on her more personal works with a diverse range of subjects, from Queen Elizabeth II to David Bowie.

Peyton paints from life and from a range of secondary sources, taking inspiration from films, literature, music and opera, as well as family and friends. The exhibition will include works from her early life, in addition to those made more recently, charting her changing approach.

Peyton's elegant, often androgynous figures are perfectly suited to compliment the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition opening two weeks later, and this will be the first time in the National Portrait Gallery's history that an exhibiting artist will be given the run of the gallery. A selection of Peyton's portraits will be dotted throughout the permanent collection, keeping company with the Tudor faces and formal portraits that span centuries.