Bert Stern: Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting

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Notable exhibitions of his work include “I Wanna Be Loved By You: Photographs of Marilyn Monroe” shown at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and “The Last Sitting” at the Musée Maillol in Paris. From the glamorous, sophisticated photos which Vogue would publish in a black-and-white "memorial" spread, to the less restrained color shots which Stern coaxed out of Marilyn during an intense, exhausting session, this collection covers nearly every aspect of modern photography: portraiture, fashion-driven, erotic, and artistic. The monumental body of work by the master photographer and the Hollywood actress marks a climax in the history of star photography, both in quantity and quality. But more than a comprehensive display of Stern's immeasurable talents, these photographs combine to create an homage to America's first goddess.

The fact that Bert Stern got Marilyn drunk and that she looks buzzed in a lot of these pictures, really takes away from what this could have been. Beginning today, visitors to the Paris exhibition hall (and car dealer) DS World can experience the elegance and vulnerability of Stern’s series in the exhibition “ Marilyn, the Last Sitting,” on view until January 6, 2018.In front of the camera, Marilyn was known to possess an incredible chameleon-like ability to transform herself into whatever role she was meant to play. The shoot captured the nation’s imagination and has since inspired countless spreads, including a 2008 cover shoot featuring Lindsay Lohan in New York Magazine, photographed by Stern himself.

I also have lots of contempt for Stern for having published the photographs that Marilyn didn't approve of and had marked up.

The book included many of the over 2,500 images that Stern had shot, including contact sheets with images Monroe had disliked and crossed out.