Marilyn The Exhibition: an illuminating if comfortless glimpse into the star’s private world

Showcasing 250 of Monroe’s personal effects in the UK for the first time, this exhibition is entertaining but occasionally lacks judgement

3/5
“She won’t be there” was the reason Arthur Miller, Marilyn Monroe’s third husband, gave for not attending Monroe’s funeral in 1962. Monroe died at 36 at the height of her fame after an overdose of barbiturates, six months after their divorce. Miller, a master scriptwriter, knew the impact of a good line delivered at the right time, though whether he meant it is questionable. Monroe was in awe of him; she claimed he was embarrassed by her.
Miller’s lugubrious face appears several times in Marilyn: The Exhibition, a show which, like his clever line, manages to be both entertaining and comfortless. It promises an “unprecedented glimpse into the private world” of Monroe by displaying 250 of her possessions – on show in the UK for the first time – alongside film footage and contextualising texts, to tell the story of the short, restless, often miserable life of Hollywood’s brightest star. 
Monroe’s assorted ephemera – love letters, scripts, clothes, shoes, scraps of make-up and so on – are from the collection of Ted Stampfer, a 53-year-old German Monroe obsessive, who says he wants to mark what would have been her 100th year in 2026 with an international touring exhibition, starting in London.
It’s a feel-good show assembled professionally and with care: clear, chronological, well-lit and coherently labelled. The curatorial style takes its lead from the V&A’s run of successful biographical exhibitions augmented with archive material, such as Gabriel Chanel: Fashion Manifesto. 
Fashion enthusiasts will find Monroe’s wardrobe fascinating. We think of Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, all gold lame and outrageous furs. But in her private world she was a chic and sophisticated minimalist, a proto-modern. The simple black cashmere jumper and white capris the 27-year-old Monroe wore when photographed at home by Life magazine in 1953 and exhibited here, project both seriousness and vitality. 
But there are moments when the show lacks curatorial judgement. Particularly desolate is a houndstooth pencil skirt by I. Magin, which the pre-fame Monroe bought in 1946 when she was 20, the year her first marriage fell apart over her modelling ambitions, and which she wore in early photoshoots. It is disintegrating. 
Other exhibits are even more inexplicable: an elastic hairnet, stained with dye; false eyelashes; a half-used tube of hair conditioner; a creepy eye mask. What they are intended to reveal about their owner is unclear – they are simply macabre relics marooned in vitrines.
But it is not all clumsy. Loud and clear is the message that Monroe was an intelligent, ambitious and brave woman who dragged herself out of awful circumstances through force of will. She transcended a lonely, parentless childhood; found strength and resources to leave two controlling husbands; set up her own film production company and took on 20th Century Fox over pay. None of this is new information, but it is made immediate when explained in the context of her letters, diaries, clothes, and particularly her books.
One exhibit is Monroe’s copy of Peace of Mind by Joshua Loth Liebman, a best-selling 1946 self-help manual. She is photographed with it on her bookshelf. Monroe may not be here, but her ephemera can illuminate her interior life. She never found what she was searching for, with Miller or anyone else. 
Info: marilynlondonbridge.co.uk
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