MoMA Learning

Celebrated American portraitist Richard Avedon aimed to uncover the true personalities of everyone he photographed—including celebrities from a diversity of disciplines. His famous subjects ranged from pianist, composer, and conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff (who Avedon photographed when he was not much older than 10) to President Barack Obama (whose portrait he made in 2004, when he was Illinois State Senator).

Actress and pop culture icon Marilyn Monroe was also among Avedon’s sitters. Recalling a portrait session with Monroe that took place in his studio in May 1957, he said, “For hours she danced and sang and flirted and did this thing that’s—she did Marilyn Monroe. And then there was the inevitable drop. And when the night was over and the white wine was over and the dancing was over, she sat in the corner like a child, with everything gone. I saw her sitting quietly without expression on her face, and I walked towards her but I wouldn’t photograph her without her knowledge of it. And as I came with the camera, I saw that she was not saying no.”¹ Avedon managed to capture one of the most photographed stars with her public façade down, producing an image that provides a rare glimpse of her inner life.