There is no simple answer to the question, why her.

What was it in this particular woman that makes heads turn around till this day? What was it in her looks or character that still inspires the creation of Marilyn Monroe art 50 years after her death? She was a reasonable actress and wasn’t an amazing singer, but till this day, 80 years after she was born as “Norma Jean”, every child still knows her name.

When she died she left behind her nothing but the wondrous shadow of her image that even in the most sexual photographs, including some completely nude, there was still a quality of innocence. Good Marilyn Monroe art will always express this quality.

Marilyn truly was representative of the ‘American dream’. She went from rags to riches. Due to her mother’s mental instability and the fact that she wasn’t married at the time, Marilyn as a baby girl who was then called Norma, was given to a foster family. She was fostered for 7 years, then returned to her mother for a short time, soon to be looked after by a close family friend, Grace Makey, as her severely depressed mother was hospitalised in Santa Monica mental institute in 1934.

Grace loved and adored her, but had to give her up to an orphanage due to financial difficulties. She once told the young Marilyn ‘don’t you worry Norma Jean – you’ll be a beautiful girl when you grow up, an important woman, a movie star’. And we all know that Grace’s predictions would turn out to be true with Monroe reaching a whole new level of stardom and inspiring authors, journalists and Marilyn Monroe art for years to come.

The transition from this troubled childhood to the life of the bleached blonde iconic star we all adore is an essential part of Marilyn Monroe’s mystifying appeal. It is this essence that artists such as myself try to capture in our Marilyn Monroe art works.

While working in a parachute check-in factory in 1944, Marilyn was pictured by the army in order to show women contributing to the war effort. One of the photographers, David Connover asked to continue taking her pictures and by Spring, 1945, she rapidly became known as every photographers dream and appeared on 33 national magazine covers. Many of these unforgettable photographs were the muse of the Marilyn Monroe art we see today, including my own.

In the Summer of ’46 Marilyn changed her name from Norma and signed a contract with 20^th Century Fox. This led to her movie career, in which she starred in a total of 28 movies, including ‘Some Like It Hot’ (my favourite!) In 1949, Marilyn agreed to model nude for a pin-up calendar, an act that was very controversial for the continuance of her career as a Hollywood star.

Marilyn’s fame was overwhelming. Her story ended in bitter tragedy. Her health deteriorated in the late 50s due to drug addiction, an unhappy marriage with Arthur Miller and the suffocating existence of stardom. She reportedly had affairs with both J F Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy not long before her tragic early death which aroused much speculation.

It is this amazing story of a poor girl reaching fame and success, but then being swallowed by the pressures and demands of our consumerist world, along with her unrivalled combination of sexiness and innocence, that inspire Marilyn Monroe art and our undying interest in this icon’s life.

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"Classic Marilyn", Acrylics on Canvas, 24"x18"

"It's All Make-Believe" (Commissioned Painting), Acrylics on Canvas, 36"x24"

A Close up of Marilyn, Acrylics on Canvas, 23.4" × 33.1"

Marilyn in White, Acrylics on Canvas, 23.4" × 33.1"

"Marilyn, Sitting", Acrylics on Canvas, 23.4" × 33.1"

The colours in these photos don’t do justice to the true paintings in real life. DISCOVER this for yourself! Click on the pics NOW to find out more…

And come back soon for more exciting new Marilyn Monroe art from me, here in Londontown!

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Imagine you had your very own Marilyn Monroe painting hung up on that wall above your couch, right now. It would be like Marilyn – the stunning iconic figure – was sitting there in the room with you. Your empty wall would now be alive. Your room would be filled with Marilyn’s charm, grace and beauty… Unfprtunately I can’t bring back the gorgeous icon herself and put her in your livingroom, but my latest Marilyn Monroe art series is here today for your viewing pleasure!

"A Close Up of Marilyn"

‘A Close Up of Marilyn’ boldly displays that sexy yet innocent  face you know so well. It is this unique contrast, combined with the mysteries surrounding her life, that put Marilyn into a class of her own. These earthy colours are evocative and bold but also subtle – so will compliment any wall. Discover how this Marilyn Monroe painting can make your home look that extra- bit more amazing…

"Marilyn in White"

‘Marilyn in White’ is colourful and classy. It really represents my unique pop art style – with bold colour contrasts, big brushstrokes and an old print-like quality. This Marilyn Monroe art creation will bring her elegance, charm and sexiness into your home. The famous white dress adds to her iconic image. Click here now to discover more!

"Marilyn, Sitting"

‘Marilyn, Sitting‘ is my latest Marilyn Monroe art creation. This is a funky, colourful painting which will liven up any room. The sexy pose and famous white dress help capture some of Marilyn’s everlasting essence. You’ll actually feel like she’s sitting there with you. Discover more about this special new painting now.

I’ve handpainted these pop art paintings with acrylics on canvas, which are stretched over wooden frames and ready for your wall. The colours in these paintings look much better upfront in real life. So click on these pics to discover more!!

A Marilyn Monroe painting, created in my unique pop-art style will perfectly suit your livingroom, bedroom or hallway. My paintings are also popular for cafes, restaurants and even stylish offices. This Marilyn Monroe series is a work in progress….so keep visiting, and cheers for coming by!

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'Allure' by Frank Ritter

We’ve talked about Marilyn’s tragic but appealing life story, the legacy she left after her death and some of the creative artwork inspired by her story… but why would the average joe, like you or me, want a Marilyn Monroe painting hung up on their livingroom wall? Here’s why Marilyn Monroe art is pretty much the perfect gift for any occasion;

1. Everyone knows Marilyn. Whether you know her life story inside-out, have seen her movies, looked at her photoshoots, or just know the name and face – everyone knows who she is. It doesn’t matter how old you are. Everyone feels something when they see a picture of Marilyn Monroe, whether its a powerful emotion or mere recognition. So with a Marilyn Monroe painting, you can’t really go wrong. By giving it as a gift to a friend or relative, you’ll definately be creating that feeling of familiarity – they’re gonna know who it is in a flash and when they hang it up on their wall, everyone who sees it will also know and have something to say about it. Many adore and look up to her as an icon. Other artwork can just seem obscure, out-of-place and unfamiliar – and you can definately get it wrong if you don’t know the particular taste of that person you’re buying it for. A Marilyn Monroe painting is a safe bet!

2. She’s nice to look at. Well this is a bit of an understatement. Marilyn was a stunnng beauty, but also the girl next door. She was blonde, beautiful and really sexy, but in her own, special, non-artificial way. In contrast to the plastic-looking models and actresses of today, she had a rare natural beauty and velumptious figure that is both very attractive to men (I’ll vouch for that!) but not intimidating to women. So a Marilyn Monroe painting is pleasing to the eye – which is what you want for decoration, isn’t it?

3. It’s a personal gift. Even if you don’t create Marilyn Monroe art yourself, which most people naturally don’t, a Marilyn Monroe painting is still a very personal gift to give to someone close. It is a one-of-a-kind creation. That painting they’re about to hang in their living-room is the only one of its kind in the whole-wide world. Now that’s special, isn’t it? Don’t settle for mass-produced Marilyn Monroe posters or a Marilyn Monroe print – or any other kind of commonly-given gift. Go that extra length and find some amazing Marilyn Monroe art that a talented artist has thrown all his creative energies into.

My first choice of Marilyn Monroe painting as a gift, would be popart style. Maybe because I’m a popart artist! But also because this is the most popular modern style of today, perfect for the house, cafes, restaurants and offices.

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The most famous Marilyn Monroe art creation is ‘A Shot of Marilyn Monroe‘ by Andy Warhol. Warhol’s masterpiece, as seen above, comes in two halves like a Greek ‘Diffticon’ (2 slates). By doing this Warhol actually makes her a Maria, a religious icon. He portrays her as the saint of his time (the 1960s) and as a saint she naturally deserves a Diffticon. She is the new-age Madonna.

St Mary is always represented as a whole, physically at her best, but in Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe  art work , Marilyn looks phsically imperfect and disoriented. You cannot find precision in her portraits. They look instead like Marilyn Monroe masks. Therefore the treatment that these ‘masks’ get is minimal and there is little attempt to fix or make the result more beautiful. It’s almost like Warhol doesn’t give Marilyn any attention.

On the right side of the Diffticton-style Marilyn Monroe art work, Warhol makes her colourless, blurry and almost erases her. This reflects her tragic life story. Warhol takes away from her the sacredness that was given in the beginning, just like in her real life. The duplication of her face represents our lack of knowledge of Marilyn’s real personality. The audience, the public, only knew her from the film and media industry and so they didn’t know the real Marilyn, just her media-duplicated portrait. She is portrayed in Warhol’s pop art painting just like a manufactured product and just like on a factory belt – there are sometimes mishaps that occur on the belt – there are imperfections on the print.You could say that he represents her as a defected product, which the industry just keeps on duplicating and duplicating untill she is completely gone.

The Marilyn Monroe Art creation was made the same year that Monroe died and her tragic life story was revealed to the masses. The movie industry only represented glamour and not reality. At first, when ‘A shot of Marilyn Monroe‘ was created, reviewers thought that Warhol had put Monroe on a pedestal before later realising that this was a pop art painting that ironically criticised the emerging consumerist society.

Marilyn Monroe art all throughout the world has since been influenced by Warhol’s original print.

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Welcome to the online home of my Marilyn Monroe art creations! I’m Konrad, a pop art artist, and I specialise in paintings of all your favourite iconic figures, like Bob Marley, James Dean, The Beatles, Einstein, Jimi Hendrix, Madonna and of course Marilyn Monroe. But why an online haven of Marilyn Monroe art? Marilyn Monroe is one of the most iconic figures of the last century. She was a stunning beauty, a fashion icon, a brilliant actress & singer,  she aroused a lot of conspiracy theories involving J F Kennedy and died in notoriously mysterious circumstances.

So naturally Monroe’s gorgeous face has become iconic, and along with it has sprung a massive craving for Marilyn Monroe art, posters and photographs. The first and most famous artist to turn Monroe’s face into a popular art masterpiece was Andy Warhol. In ‘A Shot of Marilyn Monroe’, Warhol took her iconic image, stripped it down to simplistic but bold colours, and duplicated it numerous times to resemble the mass-produced packaging that was prevailing at the time. In this way he made Marilyn a product. He made her accessible to the average man (or woman) rather than the distant star you could only dream about. He ironically criticized the consumerist culture that was taking over the Western World. Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe art masterwork was screen-printed using bright industrial colours and was a classic reflection of his attempt to blur art with the everyday product.

Pop Art is perhaps the most popular type of art today, hence the name ‘pop’ art. Artists, such as me, have drawn on Warhol’s legendary style to create iconic paintings of the figures in society we love, admire and respect. Imagine the star you’ve always looked up to boldly facing you as you get ready for the day’s obstacles. Marilyn Monroe art is perfect for hanging up in your bedroom, living room, restaurants, café’s, groovy offices or exclusive shops.

Enjoy my artistic tips, stories, links and most of all my very own hand-painted Marilyn Monroe art collection!

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