Marilyn

The Museo Ferragamo in Florence pays homage to Marilyn Monroe with a major exhibition and a catalogue dedicated to her a half century after her death. Like other divas of the silver screen (Audrey Hepburn, Greta Garbo), Marilyn also loved to wear Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. The exhibition and catalogue dedicated to her are the result of long research and preparatory work, presenting items from the actress's wardrobe worn on the set or in her private life, as well as important documents that reveal the actress's managerial side, her skill and determination in building and grooming her success. A well endowed collection of photographs of Marilyn taken in her day-to-day life are juxtaposed with the power of the archetype and the endurance of the myth, the greatness of which perhaps resides in the star's double nature as spiritualized female and pop icon. Measuring themselves against the myth and the chronicles, the curators have sought to interpret the genesis of certain famous photographs (by Beaton, Stern, Barris, Greene) portraying Marilyn in `classic' poses. They have compared these portraits with famous works of art from the past, representing older expressions of similar poses and expressions, from the balanced pathos of French painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze's Alessandro morente to Botticelli's Venus.