LONDON.- In celebration of Marilyn Monroe’s 100th birthday and in association with the Marilyn Monroe estate, the National Portrait Gallery will present Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait (4 June – 6 September 2026). This major exhibition will celebrate the life and work of one of the most famous women of the 20th century through portraits. It will explore the role she played in her own image making, and her inspiration on photographers and artists in her lifetime and long after.
Born on 1 June 1926, Monroe remains a defining presence in popular culture. From the earliest pin-up photographs made when she was a young model named Norma Jeane, to her last interview for Life Magazine and the poignant final images taken on Santa Monica beach in 1962, she was one of the most photographed people in the world, and fascinated and inspired some of its greatest artists. The exhibition will bring together works by Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, James Gill, Rosalyn Drexler and Audrey Flack, alongside photographs by over 20 era-defining photographers including Cecil Beaton, Philippe Halsman, Bernard of Hollywood, André de Dienes, Eve Arnold, Inge Morath, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Milton Greene, Sam Shaw, Richard Avedon and George Barris.
The exhibition will also feature previously unseen photographs from Life magazine; intimate portraits taken by Allan Grant at Monroe's Brentwood residence just one day before her death in August 1962. Grant's exclusive session, which accompanied her final interview with Life associate editor Richard Meryman, captured 432 images of which only eight were originally published. These dynamic photographs show Monroe reading the transcript of her interview, performing a range of emotions from joy and contentment to quiet reflection.
Photographers who worked with Monroe described her as the best subject they had ever had. The exhibition will foreground Monroe's collaborative approach to image making and her creative agency; she not only performed, but also directed sessions and claimed the right to veto any images she did not like.
The shock of Monroe's death in 1962 was a catalyst for the production of numerous portraits by artists on both sides of the Atlantic. British Pop artist Pauline Boty, a devoted fan, worked through her grief in paintings including The Only Blonde in the World (1963) and Colour Her Gone (1962). In New York, Andy Warhol created his iconic screen prints. Based on a publicity still taken to promote the film Niagara (1953), Warhol isolated Monroe's face against a field of gold, enshrining her like a Byzantine saint. In Warhol's work, Monroe was no longer just a movie star, but the great American icon. James Francis Gill made his triptych Marilyn (1962), while Joseph Cornell assembled delicate memorial boxes dedicated to Monroe. Monroe continues to fascinate artists, drawn to her iconic presence and fascinating life.
The exhibition is curated by Rosie Broadley, Joint Head of Curatorial and Senior Curator of 20th Century Collections, and Georgia Atienza, Assistant Curator of Photography.
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait is accompanied by a publication with the same title, which includes contributions from Rosie Broadley, Lena Dunham, Sarah Churchwell, Bonnie Greer, Griselda Pollock, Georgia Atienza and Sean Burns, bringing together leading writers, critics and curators to offer fresh, revealing perspectives on the life, image and enduring legacy of Marilyn Monroe.
