This enchanting exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery is really very moving. The first image we see is this tiny photograph, above left, of 15 year old Norma Jeane taken in a photobooth in New York. Still with her natural dark hair, the smile and the clever use of eyes is there to see. And later on, we see the image, some 20 years later, which Marilyn wanted to project as a professional star, bright blonde hair, red, red lipstick, elongated eyeliner and false lashes and the beauty spot. She was lovely looking and it’s such a tragedy that she died at the tender age of 36. However, the result is, it turns out, immortality. Marilyn will always be thought of as a beautiful talented young woman .
The ultimate cover girl, photographers found her inspiring and clamoured to invite her to be photographed. She clearly developed close relationships with many of the photographers and quickly established a degree of control of usage of the images – studying the pictures and only allowing those she approved of to be used in print. Above, you can see her jumping with the photographer Philippe Halsman.
After a career as a photographic model she gravitated to Hollywood and some great roles. She turned out to be a brilliant actress, dancer and singer. But being in front of a movie camera, and sharing a scene with other people, came with issues for her. Difficult to stay in total control of the finished image. Oh, but how enchanting she looks in her white dress as wind from the subway blows up her skirt revealing her legs and underwear. She knew exactly how powerful that image would be. The exhibition shows a montage of her best films and give us a glimpse of how luminous she looked on screen.
Marilyn Monroe’s image inspired artists before and after her death. We are all familiar with those Warhol prints (there are three of them in this show). And I was impressed to see the painting by Richard Hamilton, top right, based on photographs taken by George Barris, shortly before she died. He paints directly onto the images as contact sheets, showing the ones she approved and blotting the ones she rejected. Above middle is Ray Johnson’s collage of a pin up and on the left is a huge ‘vanitas’ by Audrey Flack painted after her death showing images of her life and the transience of her beauty.
Final shots from the George Barris shoot of Marilyn on the beach at Santa Monica. And the Last Sitting photograph by Bert Stern in 1962. She drew an x on the rejected images and took a hair pin to the colour transparencies. One is left with a sense of such sadness that all that talent was over too soon. But in its place is this remarkable immortality – she is forever young and beautiful.
The show is on at the National Portrait Gallery until 6th September 2026.
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