PHILADELPHIA, PA.- After all these years, she still continues to enchant us. In June of 1962, Bert Stern was commissioned by Vogue Magazine for a photo shoot with Marilyn Monroe at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. He took over 2,500 photographs of her over a three-day period, just six weeks before her suicide. This shoot would become known as the ‘Last Sitting,’ providing the world with one last, captivating look at Monroe before her tragic and untimely death.

Throughout the shoot, Monroe took on many personas, revealing her charisma and ability to transform herself into a variety of characters before the camera. The photographs that resulted from this session with Stern are a mix of fashion, portrait and nude studies, the first to be taken since 1949.

After her death, Stern published a monumental book titled Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting which included a large number of the images taken during the session. Later, a portfolio of ten photographs was compiled into an editioned portfolio. Although singular images from the portfolio can often be found at auction, it is unusual to find a complete set.

The images in the portfolio are excellent examples of photographs taken during the first day of the shoot when Stern and Monroe were alone together without the presence of Vogue editors, make-up artists, and wardrobe assistants. They are hazy and dreamlike, created through the use of white paper backgrounds and diffused, natural light. The addition of gauzy, sorbet-colored scarves and jewelry provided Monroe with props. She draped and wrapped herself with the fabric and alternated her expressions, making her appear in one image siren-like and in the next, demure and playful.