Marylin Monroe

The Völklingen Ironworks flooded in red light
Copyright: Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte | Oliver Dietze

Monroe 1953 publicity frank Powolny

Monroe 1953 publicity frank Powolny
Copyright: Frank Powolny | Public Domain

Born in 1926 in Los Angeles, California, United States
Died in 1962 in Brentwood, California, United States

Works

X Ray 13

X Ray 13
Copyright: © Hans-Georg Merkel / Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte

The link between power, medicine and the sexualisation of the radiographic gaze is also evident in pop culture: several decades after Marilyn Monroe's death, her X-rays were auctioned off in the 2010s as supposedly intimate objects. Medical images became highly prized fetish objects of the actress's sexualised body.

Exhibitions