© National Portrait Gallery
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait
4 June 2026 — 6 September 2026
On NowThe National Portrait Gallery marks Marilyn Monroe's 100th birthday with works by Warhol, Pauline Boty, Marlene Dumas and 20+ era-defining photographers — foregrounding her creative agency and collaborative approach to image-making, from early pin-ups to the final beach photographs of 1962.
From National Portrait Gallery
In celebration of the Hollywood star’s 100th birthday and in association with the Marilyn Monroe estate, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait will explore the life, career and legacy of Marilyn Monroe through portraits created by some of the greatest photographers and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Bringing together works by Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, Marlene Dumas, James Gill, Rosalyn Drexler and Audrey Flack, alongside over 20 era-defining photographers, including Cecil Beaton,...
Read more at National Portrait Gallery →Critic Reviews (4)
The Guardian
Charlotte Jansen
The radiant, uncontainable star she always wanted to be
"The show does get dull, though, as it goes on. I wanted to see more contradictions, more slips of the mask. Why can't we have sadness and fragility as well as dazzling performativity? I wanted to see her flaws, not in a salacious way, but because they are part of the story."
Read full review →TimeOut
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait
"In that regard, and in staking her claim as an active participant in how she was perceived during her lifetime, it's a success. But Monroe is so chameleonic, so charming, so conscious of audience and image that – between star and photographer – we only get an occasional glimpse of the human behind the pictures."
Read full review →The Standard
Martin Robinson
The agony, ecstasy and self-made genius of Marilyn Monroe
"This show at the National Portrait Gallery, timed to coincide with 100 years of her birth, attempts to emphasise her own agency in the creation of the image of Marilyn Monroe, showing it as an act of creative genius by a woman who found herself through it. It was not mere construction thrust on her by the Hollywood machine, it was a self-created vehicle for success that worked so well because she also gave herself fully to the camera. Paradoxically, in watching this perfect fantasy vision of womanhood, audiences also felt they saw the real woman beneath — and loved her."
Read full review →The Times
Laura Freeman
a blonde, bland homage
"This show is too blonde and too bland. Where is the darkness? There are hints of it — Hugh Hefner using a naked portrait of the young Marilyn as the "centrefold" of the first Playboy without the actress's permission, the obsession of ex-boyfriends, the pack of men watching her skirts blow on the grate — but this is mostly a sanitised vision of Marilyn: in swimsuits, in tulle, smiling, pensive, performing."
Read full review →Visit
St Martin's Place, London·View on artmap
Sunday10:30am–6pm
Monday10:30am–6pm
Tuesday10:30am–6pm
Wednesday10:30am–6pm
Thursday10:30am–6pm
Friday10:30am–9pm
Saturday10:30am–6pm
© National Portrait Gallery
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait
4 June 2026 — 6 September 2026
On NowThe National Portrait Gallery marks Marilyn Monroe's 100th birthday with works by Warhol, Pauline Boty, Marlene Dumas and 20+ era-defining photographers — foregrounding her creative agency and collaborative approach to image-making, from early pin-ups to the final beach photographs of 1962.
From National Portrait Gallery
In celebration of the Hollywood star’s 100th birthday and in association with the Marilyn Monroe estate, Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait will explore the life, career and legacy of Marilyn Monroe through portraits created by some of the greatest photographers and artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Bringing together works by Andy Warhol, Pauline Boty, Marlene Dumas, James Gill, Rosalyn Drexler and Audrey Flack, alongside over 20 era-defining photographers, including Cecil Beaton,...
Read more at National Portrait Gallery →Critic Reviews (4)
The Guardian
Charlotte Jansen
The radiant, uncontainable star she always wanted to be
"The show does get dull, though, as it goes on. I wanted to see more contradictions, more slips of the mask. Why can't we have sadness and fragility as well as dazzling performativity? I wanted to see her flaws, not in a salacious way, but because they are part of the story."
Read full review →TimeOut
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait
"In that regard, and in staking her claim as an active participant in how she was perceived during her lifetime, it's a success. But Monroe is so chameleonic, so charming, so conscious of audience and image that – between star and photographer – we only get an occasional glimpse of the human behind the pictures."
Read full review →The Standard
Martin Robinson
The agony, ecstasy and self-made genius of Marilyn Monroe
"This show at the National Portrait Gallery, timed to coincide with 100 years of her birth, attempts to emphasise her own agency in the creation of the image of Marilyn Monroe, showing it as an act of creative genius by a woman who found herself through it. It was not mere construction thrust on her by the Hollywood machine, it was a self-created vehicle for success that worked so well because she also gave herself fully to the camera. Paradoxically, in watching this perfect fantasy vision of womanhood, audiences also felt they saw the real woman beneath — and loved her."
Read full review →The Times
Laura Freeman
a blonde, bland homage
"This show is too blonde and too bland. Where is the darkness? There are hints of it — Hugh Hefner using a naked portrait of the young Marilyn as the "centrefold" of the first Playboy without the actress's permission, the obsession of ex-boyfriends, the pack of men watching her skirts blow on the grate — but this is mostly a sanitised vision of Marilyn: in swimsuits, in tulle, smiling, pensive, performing."
Read full review →Visit
St Martin's Place, London·View on artmap
Sunday10:30am–6pm
Monday10:30am–6pm
Tuesday10:30am–6pm
Wednesday10:30am–6pm
Thursday10:30am–6pm
Friday10:30am–9pm
Saturday10:30am–6pm