Portraits of the Queen by some of the world’s top artists are going on display to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee.

Paintings and photographs by artists including Andy Warhol, Cecil Beaton, Lucian Freud and Annie Leibovitz are among those that will go on show in The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch exhibition at Windsor Castle from today.

They span her six-decade reign, from society photographer Dorothy Wilding’s image in February 1952 that went on to be used on postage stamps, to John Swannell’s Diamond Jubilee portrait, taken in December last year and released this year to mark the jubilee.

Four classic Pop Art prints by Warhol, who said he wanted to be as famous as the Queen, were acquired by the Royal Collection in September and will be shown for the first time.

The brightly coloured images – created in 1985 and part of a series called Reigning Queens – include one in electric blue and another in neon pink. The screen prints measure 100cm by 80cm.

Lady Jane Roberts, co-curator of the exhibition, said the vivid colours make them a talking point.

“They have this wonderful diamond dust on the outlines,” she said.

“When they arrived they were still in their paper wrappings, so they have never been framed or hung before – that is what makes them so extraordinary.”

Lucian Freud created his diminutive oil portrait after the Queen sat for him between May 2000 and December 2001.

The work measures 23.5cm x 15.2cm and was extended in height by 3.5cm to accommodate the Diamond Diadem on her head, which Freud chose to add some time after starting the painting.

The exhibition, which celebrates the Diamond Jubilee and the anniversary of the coronation next year, runs from November 23 to June 9.