Never Before Seen Pics Of Marilyn Monroe Now Showing At Milk

Opening at Milk Gallery tomorrow, Picturing Marilyn offers an alluring selection of never-before-seen photographs of Marilyn Monroe. The exhibition spans the icon’s entire career: Blushing teen on the beach; Norma Jeane at 20, photographed by Andre de Dienes; The “Talk of Hollywood” seductress pictured on Philipe Halsman’s 1952 cover of LIFE magazine; and finally, Bert Stern’s legendary "Last Sitting," a three-day shoot for Vogue (much of which the actress allegedly spent drunk) at a Bel-Air hotel in 1962, just six weeks before her mysterious death at 36. The images captured at that famed final photo session—recently reenacted by Lindsay Lohan for
New York Mag, also by Stern—star as the centerpiece of the collection at Milk, most noticeably a stunning, haunting unpublished shot of Marilyn in a black, backless Dior gown. The curve of Marilyn’s bare back and lure of her eyes suggest the affliction behind all that glamour.

Photo: Copyright Bert Stern / Courtesy of Staley-Wise Gallery, New York.