Michael Jackson painting.

In his illustrious career as a top portrait artist, Ralph Cowan has painted his share of world leaders and stars.

The list reads like a Who’s Who on the World Stage: Elvis. Elizabeth Taylor. Princess Grace. John F. Kennedy. Frank Sinatra.

The Sultan of Brunei.

One name, however, stands out.

Michael Jackson.

Cowan, a 77-year-old West Palm Beach resident, painted the King of Pop four times in the early ’90s, and visited Jackson’s Neverland ranch. This 80×40 oil canvas Cowan painted in 1993 was one of Jackson’s favorites. The late singer paid $30,000 for the portrait and hung it next to his baby grand piano at Neverland. He also was interviewed in front of the painting by Oprah Winfrey.

Originally, Cowan painted two German shepherds in the lower left-hand corner. But that’s not what Jackson wanted.
“He calls me in this very sweet voice and says, ‘I don’t really like dogs, I like monkeys. Could you paint me a monkey?’” Cowan recalls. “He wasn’t demanding. He was so sweet and nice asking about it.”

Cowan remembers Jackson as very shy and great to work with.

“He was absolutely wonderful,” Cowan says. “It was very exciting hearing your own name said by one of these famous voices.”

Why painting Jackson was like working with a king:

“He lived in this fantasy world and if he didn’t like something, you felt as if he could behead you. But the way he does it is by not calling you again. And somewhere along the line he stopped calling me and I thought I had been beheaded.”

What it was like at Neverland:

“I asked him about composing music and he took me to this tree where he would write a lot of his songs. I rode around on the train and I loved all the children. The child in me could totally accept that. I have twin sons so I love to be around little kids, too.”

What struck him most about Jackson:

“He looked really good. He had gone lighter, but he wasn’t pure white. He had his nose done, but it was a marvelous-looking nose.”

His reaction to Jackson’s death:

“It was the best thing for him. All of these bad things were going on around him. I don’t think he was capable of a comeback and people are cruel now. If he had gone on and done those shows, and he didn’t dance like he was 21 years old, he would’ve been torn to bits. It was the proper time for him to go. Now everybody will remember him and think of him in his 30s forever.”

ON THE WALL:
Ralph Cowan discusses the symbols in his Jackson portrait
1. The writing: ‘It says, “I’m a multidimensional creature going thru the Earth experience to learn in slow-motion the consequence of thought.” I was learning to meditate at the time and was reading different spiritual books.’
2. The suit of armor: ‘Michael was very, very sensitive and he got upset when people said bad things about him. If he wore armor, he would’ve been protected.’
3. The red cape: ‘It means royalty. He was a king. The King of Pop.”
4. The monkeys: ‘It’s not supposed to be Bubbles (Jackson’s pet chimp). I had two dogs in the original portrait, but Michael said he didn’t like dogs. He liked monkeys.’
5. The silver urn: ‘It represents all the awards he has.’
6. The parrot: ‘It represents the many imitators of his voice and movement.’
7. The young Chinese girl: ‘He saw children as angels until they grew up, and he didn’t want to be around them (then) because they had egos.”
8. The space shuttle: ‘When he goes to dance and perform, he goes into outer space.’
9. Jesus: ‘Michael was a Jehovah’s Witness, but he liked to talk about Christ and how great Christ had been to him.’
10. The woman in the white dress: ‘He told me he was seeing this nurse about something and that something magic was going to happen. What was happening was she (Debbie Rowe) was carrying the babies or they were making the deal to do it, so I painted a nurse that looks like an angel.’