Many have enchanted the public consciousness, but few have remained as entrenched and unforgettable as Marilyn Monroe. There is, of course, the image: the platinum bouffant glowing almost white against her skin; the red lips against a megawatt smile; the sequined gown draped over her body as she serenaded a president on his birthday. Yet this is only part of the story of a woman inextricably linked to pop culture, a siren and a saint for the silver screen. To mark her one hundredth birthday this year, Staley-Wise Gallery in New York has launched Becoming Marilyn, an exhibition that seeks to do justice to a life immortalized in cinema, photographs, and popular memory.
