By Alessia Bellan

The National Portrait Gallery hosts “Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait”, reviewing the life and achievements of the 20th century’s most admired diva, as well as the gossip she generated, through portraits by 20 legendary photographers, along with works by such artists as Andy Warhol and Pauline Boty.

On the centenary of her birth in Los Angeles on 1st June 1926, London celebrates Hollywood’s most famous blonde with an exhibition that looks beyond the myth. Under the studio lights for most of her career, the exhibition reveals the complexity of a woman who was so much more than just a sex symbol, revealing her intelligence, generosity and especially her creativity. From the young model Norma Jeane’s first pin-up shots to the haunting photographs taken on Malibu Beach in 1962, the year of her death at the age of 36, works by such renowned figures as Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Eve Arnold and George Barris, some of over 20 photographers who captured the zeitgeist, give the lie to the cliché of the blonde bombshell. Including works by Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, Marlene Dumas, James Gill, Rosalyn Drexler and Audrey Flack, the exhibition highlights Monroe’s professional attitude and collaborative approach, as she worked in close collaboration with these artists to construct her own iconography, a heritage that continues to be a source of inspiration even today. Cultured and intellectually inquisitive, Marilyn owned a library of over 400 volumes and was always on the front line in the struggle for civil rights. It was Marilyn who browbeat the Mocambo Club into engaging Ella Fitzgerald at a time when the African-American singer was banned from performing in exclusive venues. Monroe threated to sit in the front row every evening, accompanied by the inevitable retinue of paparazzi, until the club owners gave in. Her generosity included regular donations to orphanages and on her death a quarter of her legacy went the Anna Freud Centre, a child mental health research, training and treatment charity based in London. The exhibition includes personal objects like books, scripts and garments, helping visitors gain a clearer view of the woman behind the stereotypical image of a capricious diva.

“Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait”, will be at London’s National Portrait Gallery from 4^th June to 6^th September 2026

npg.org.uk