Story perspectives

Academy Museum Debuts Marilyn Monroe Exhibit for Centenary

5/28/2026

Summary

Marilyn Monroe Exhibit

The Academy Museum opened the “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon” exhibition on Sunday, marking her 100th birthday.
The show features Monroe’s hot-pink William Travilla gown and other personal items.
Over 400 books from her library, stored in white coffin-shaped boxes for 37 years, were auctioned by Christie’s in 1999.
Photographers Lawrence Schiller and Sam Shaw, citing oral-history interviews, describe Monroe as elegant, fun-spirited, sweet with children and tough with studio heads.

Summary

Marilyn Monroe Cookbook

A 1953 *New Joy of Cooking* cookbook of Marilyn Monroe sold for $29,900 despite a $500-$700 reserve.
Marginalia reveal Monroe used a portable hair dryer for noodles.
Photographs show Monroe reading the book from armchairs, loungers or a sofa bed between takes.
Her York apartment displayed an Albert Camus portrait, a shelf mixing Goya with Einstein and Miller with Dostoevsky, and a library of works by Nabokov, Thomas and Sartre.

History

Historical Context

In 1960 Marilyn Monroe was honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, cementing the fame she built after 20th Century-Fox promoted her as the new blonde bombshell of the 1950s. By her 1962 death her films had earned about $200 million, and her image inspired Andy Warhol’s 1962 Marilyn Diptych, underscoring her lasting role as a postwar American cultural icon.

1 of 3

Marilyn Monroe Exhibit

The Academy Museum opened the “Marilyn Monroe: Hollywood Icon” exhibition on Sunday, marking her 100th birthday.
The show features Monroe’s hot-pink William Travilla gown and other personal items.
Over 400 books from her library, stored in white coffin-shaped boxes for 37 years, were auctioned by Christie’s in 1999.
Photographers Lawrence Schiller and Sam Shaw, citing oral-history interviews, describe Monroe as elegant, fun-spirited, sweet with children and tough with studio heads.

1 / 3