At JordanCon V, I had the distinct privilege to purchase one of Michael Whelan's original concept paintings for A Memory of Light. 

The story behind is this image is that it’s one of several concepts that Michael provided to Tor Books. From what I understand, this particular painting was one of the top choices to become the actual book cover, but the publisher wanted an image which included the lunar eclipse.  If this image had been selected, Michael would have re-painted it, and added a significant amount of more detail.

The painting depicts Rand, holding Callandor, outside the cave at Shayol Ghul, right before he descends to face the Dark One.

Detail:

More images and details about how I acquired the painting can be found on my personal website. Also, be sure to look at Tor.com's behind-the-scenes feature at how the AMOL cover was designed.

What do you think?