The 50th anniversary of his album David Bowie “Aladdin Sane” will be celebrated in London with an exhibition at the Southbank Centre.

The ‘Aladdin Sane: 50 Years’ exhibition, organized to mark half a century on April 21 since the release of the singer’s sixth studio album in 1973, will run for two months and will feature artwork from the album, including the famous portrait of the late singer with the iconic lightning bolt.

Live music and talks will accompany the exhibition, which has been curated by Chris Duffy, son of the photographer who worked with Bowie to create the famous Bowie portrait.

“My father’s image of Bowie is often called the Mona Lisa of Pop,” Chris Duffy said of the upcoming exhibition. “It’s important to remember that it was the result of a short studio shoot using film, which then had to be sent out for commercial processing.”

“There were no instant digital images or photoshop back then. It is amazing how it has stood the test of time and is endlessly edited. Wherever I go in the world, it’s always somewhere in a T-shirt,” he remarked.

The exhibition, which opens on April 6 at the Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Center to coincide with the launch of the limited edition book ‘Aladdin Sane 50’, will feature never-before-seen images from the iconic shot and show how Bowie and Duffy collaborated to explore the fluidity of gender, identity and style.

Professor Camille Paglia defined the portrait as “one of the most iconic and influential art images of the last half century, reproduced and parodied in advertising, media and entertainment worldwide”.

As part of the exhibition the UK’s National Poetry Library will host an event featuring 10 exciting poets who have undertaken to write a new poem in response to each song on the album and perform them on stage.

Anna Calvi, Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears and more will perform songs from ‘Aladdin Sane’ in holiday concert.