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Marilyn Monroe\u2019s most famous image is easy to recognize: the white dress, the pink satin gown, the studio portraits, the breathy interviews, and the glamour Hollywood kept selling long after her death.<\/p>\n
A new Los Angeles exhibition is asking visitors to look at how that image was built, and what Monroe left behind beyond it.<\/p>\n
Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon<\/em><\/a> opens to the public May 31 at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, one day before what would have been Monroe\u2019s 100th birthday on June 1. The exhibition runs through Feb. 28, 2027, in the museum\u2019s Rolex Gallery.<\/p>\n \u2018America\u2019s sweetheart\u2019: exhibition explores Marilyn Monroe\u2019s complex relationship to stardom \u2013 https:\/\/t.co\/Pt8gw7dHhZ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Susan Jordan #FreePalestine \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 (@Moonbootica) May 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Academy Museum describes the show as a look at Monroe as a \u201cvisionary actor and image-maker,\u201d with hundreds of original objects tied to her career and public persona.<\/p>\n The exhibition includes posters, portraits, photographs, production documents, letters, and rarely seen personal materials, many of which are being shown publicly for the first time.<\/p>\n The museum\u2019s framing pushes the show beyond a simple collection of famous costumes. It looks at Monroe inside the classical Hollywood studio system, where her image was shaped by studios, photographers, designers, press coverage, and Monroe herself.<\/p>\n The Guardian<\/a> reported that the exhibition includes personal letters, photos, marked-up scripts, an address book, a telephone, a wine glass, and other belongings that shift the focus away from Monroe\u2019s screen image.<\/p>\n The show also uses restored audio from Monroe\u2019s final interview, published in Life<\/em> shortly before her death in 1962.<\/p>\n One handwritten line shown in the exhibition reads, \u201cI\u2019m finding that sincerity is often taken for stupidity,\u201d according to The Guardian. The sentence cuts against the old flattened version of Monroe as only a studio-made blonde bombshell.<\/p>\n The exhibition\u2019s biggest visual draw may be the pink William Travilla dress Monroe wore in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes<\/em> during \u201cDiamonds Are a Girl\u2019s Best Friend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The Exhibition Looks at Monroe as an Image-Maker<\/h2>\n
Personal Objects Sit Beside the Famous Glamour<\/h2>\n
The Pink \u201cDiamonds\u201d Dress Gets a Major Spotlight<\/h2>\n