One hundred years ago, on 1 June 1926, a baby named Norma Jeane Mortenson was born in Los Angeles. She would become the most photographed woman in the world, an enduring icon of glamour, vulnerability, and American celebrity, and a subject who fascinated some of the 20th century’s greatest photographers and artists.
This summer, the National Portrait Gallery marks Marilyn Monroe’s centenary with a landmark exhibition exploring her life, career, and extraordinary afterlife in art. Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait runs from 4 June to 6 September 2026, bringing together works by Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Eve Arnold, and more than 20 other era-defining photographers and artists.
The exhibition traces Monroe’s journey from young model to global icon, examining the role she played in her own image-making and her collaborative approach to photography. From the earliest pin-up photographs when she was still Norma Jeane to her final interview for Life magazine and the poignant last images taken on Santa Monica beach in 1962, the show explores how Monroe worked with photographers rather than simply being captured by them.
“Photographers who worked with Monroe described her as the best subject they had ever had,” notes the gallery. The exhibition foregrounds her creative agency—she not only performed but also directed sessions and claimed the right to veto any images she didn’t like.
Among the most significant works on display are 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, the session accompanied her final interview with Life associate editor Richard Meryman. Grant 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.
The shock of Monroe’s death in 1962 was a catalyst for 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 for the film Niagara (1953), isolating Monroe’s face against a field of gold and enshrining her like a Byzantine saint. In Warhol’s hands, Monroe became more than a movie star—she became the great American icon.
The exhibition also includes works by James Gill, Rosalyn Drexler, Audrey Flack, and Joseph Cornell, whose delicate memorial boxes were dedicated to Monroe. Photographs come from Cecil Beaton, Philippe Halsman, Bernard of Hollywood, André de Dienes, Inge Morath, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Milton Greene, Sam Shaw, and George Barris, among others.
“Marilyn Monroe remains one of the most recognisable people in modern history: a shorthand for glamour, distilled from the films that she appeared in and the wealth of photographs of her, reinforced by the generations of artists she has inspired,” said Victoria Siddall, Director of the National Portrait Gallery. “We are proud to be staging this exhibition celebrating Marilyn in her centenary year, exploring her extraordinary life and influence as well as her enduring legacy.”
Curator Rosie Broadley added: “It has been a privilege to spend time curating an exhibition about a woman who both defined and challenged the era in which she lived. In addition to her iconic beauty, Marilyn Monroe had inimitable attitude, intelligence, strength and humanity and it is no surprise that she held such fascination for artists working during her lifetime and in the decades since.”
The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Estate of Marilyn Monroe and is supported by the Bern Schwartz Family Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
An accompanying publication features contributions from Rosie Broadley, Lena Dunham, Sarah Churchwell, Bonnie Greer, Griselda Pollock, Georgia Atienza, and Sean Burns, offering fresh perspectives on Monroe’s life and legacy. A smaller gift book, Marilyn Monroe: Reflections, showcases photographs alongside quotes by Monroe and those who admired her, including Bonnie Greer, Elton John, and Zadie Smith.
Coinciding with the exhibition, BFI Southbank will present a film season, Marilyn Monroe: Self Made Star, throughout June and July.
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait
When: 4 June – 6 September 2026
Where: National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE
Tickets: Members go free
More information: npg.org.uk
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