Elaine Sigwald

"He (Arthur Miller) wouldn't have married me if I had been nothing but a dumb blond"

There are 25 photographs in this series, all are titled with quotes from Marilyn Monroe and reference some aspect of her inner self. The artist's intention in creating this series is to reveal the genuine person behind the magnetic veil that was the public persona of Marilyn Monroe.

"I didn’t pay much attention to the whistles and whoops, in fact I didn’t quite hear them. I was full of strange feelings, as if I were two people. One of them Norma Jeane from the orphanage who belonged to nobody; the other was someone whose name I didn’t know. But I knew where she belonged, she belonged to the ocean and the sky and the whole world." 

H - 34" x W - 20" 

"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are."

H - 23 1/2" x W - 33 1/2"

"I could never pretend something I didn't feel. I could never make love if I didn't love and if I loved I could no more hide the fact than change the color of my eyes".

H - 23 1/2" x W - 30"

"Please don't make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe. I don't mind making jokes, but I don't want to look like one... I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity."

"I remember when I got the part in Gentlemen Prefer blondes. Jane Russell - she was the brunette in it and I was the blonde. She got $200,000 for it, and I got my $500 a week, but that to me was, you know, considerable. She by the way, was quite wonderful to me. The only thing was I couldn’t get a dressing room. Finally, I really got to this kind of level and I said, "Look, after all, I am the blonde, and it is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!” Because still they always kept saying, “Remember, you’re not a star.” I said Well, whatever I am I am the blonde!"

June 13, 1962, telegram from Marilyn to Robert and Ethel Kennedy

"Dear Attorney General and Mrs. Robert Kennedy: I could have been delighted to have accepted your invitation honoring Pat and Peter Lawford. Unfortunately, I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earth bound stars. After all, all we demanded was our right to twinkle."  ___Marilyn Monroe

“Dogs never bite me. Just humans.”

"In Hollywood a girl’s virtue is much less important than her hair-do. You’re judged by how you look, not by what you are. Hollywood’s a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss, and fifty cents for your soul. I know, because I turned down the first offer often enough and held out for the fifty cents."

"We are all born sexual creatures, thank God, but it's a pity so many people despise and crush this natural gift."

H - 30" x W - 20"

“I want to grow old without facelifts... I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I’ve made. Sometimes I think it would be easier to avoid old age to die young, but then you’d never complete your life, would you? You’d never wholly know you.”

“I used to think as I looked out on the Hollywood night — there must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I'm not going to worry about them. I'm dreaming the hardest.”

All Images in Marilyn Series © 2012 Elaine Sigwald All Rights Reserved