Celebrant Marilyn 1926-2026: CAEE Exhibition Marks Monroe's Centenary

The Centre d’Art d’Escaldes-Engordany (CAEE) has opened *Celebrant Marilyn 1926-2026*, an exhibition marking the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth and exploring her transformation from Hollywood actress to enduring cultural icon. Featuring more than 300 items—including photographs, posters, artworks, and a replica potato-sack dress designed by her favored couturier William Travilla—all pieces come from the private collection of José Luis Rupérez. He describes her as “the most represented face of the last 70 years—the Mona Lisa of the 20th and 21st centuries.”

Curated by Aurora Baena, the display organizes Monroe’s story—born Norma Jeane Mortenson (or Baker) in Los Angeles in 1926—into three stages: her emergence as an artist, her rise as a pop culture phenomenon, and her elevation to mythic status. From humble origins, including time in orphanages and foster homes after her mother’s institutionalization, she worked in a parachute factory during World War II. Discovered there in 1944, she modeled nude for Tom Kelley’s 1949 *Golden Dreams* calendar, which later fueled scandal and her stardom after *Asphalt Jungle* in 1951. Early pin-up images by photographers like Earl Moran emphasized her body as a sexual object, which she tried to harness while pushing for dramatic roles in films such as *Bus Stop*, *The Prince and the Showgirl*, *Niagara*, *Gentlemen Prefer Blondes*, and *Some Like It Hot*. Her career, from 1947 to 1962, included marriages to a neighborhood boyfriend, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio (lasting nine months), and playwright Arthur Miller, plus rumored affairs with John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. Personal demons led to her death by barbiturate overdose in 1962 at age 36, widely deemed suicide amid competing theories. “The myth truly began with the tragedy,” Baena noted.

The exhibition shifts focus to artistic reinterpretations, from expressionist emphasis on her form to later works capturing her face’s human warmth, Andy Warhol’s silkscreen portraits, Cindy Sherman’s media critiques, and David LaChapelle’s provocations. Over time, her image has abstracted into signature traits—blonde hair, mole, makeup—detached from the woman herself. Designed to be open-ended, it invites visitors to ponder whether Monroe or the system prevailed, and if she ever truly owned her likeness. Baena calls her “a new kind of woman,” the first actress to seek control over her public image, though it ultimately consumed her.

Complementing the show until its June 13 close are events including a March 24 talk by costume designer Anna Mangot on film fashion and legend; a May 4 literary workshop with writer Elena Aranda on Monroe alongside Sylvia Plath and Anaïs Nin; film screenings of *Niagara* (May 5), *Gentlemen Prefer Blondes* (May 12), and *Some Like It Hot* (May 19); children’s workshops *Marilyn en mil colors* on March 21 and April 18; plus free guided tours and nighttime visits.