The 25-foot-tall sculpture, named "Forever Marilyn," is located outside the Palm Springs Art Museum and depicts the iconic scene from the 1955 comedy "The Seven-Year Itch" in which Marilyn's white dress is blown up by a subway grate, revealing her backside.
The artwork was created by Seward Johnson in 2011 and was initially displayed in Chicago before being purchased for $1 million by the tourism agency PS Resorts in 2020.
March 02, 2023
The Committee to Relocate Marilyn (Crema), a group of residents fighting to remove the sculpture, argued in a lawsuit against the city that officials did not have the right to stop traffic on the street where the statue is located for years on end.
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According to the Art Newspaper, on February 23, California’s 4th District Court of Appeals overturned a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The group, which includes fashion designer Trina Turk, believes that the law does not give cities the authority to close public streets to erect semi-permanent works of art like "Forever Marilyn."
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Even before the legal battle, the statue had faced intense criticism from locals. The former executive director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, Louis Grachos, said the artwork objectified Marilyn Monroe and sent a negative message to the museum's young visitors.
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He argued, "What message does that send to our young people, our visitors, and community to present a statue that objectifies women, is sexually charged and disrespectful?"
Other critics, such as Los Angeles artist Nathan Coutts, have also disapproved of the artwork. In a change.org petition against the installation, Coutts called the sculpture "derivative, tone-deaf, [and] in poor taste." Protesters have also shown up at the official installation wielding signs that read, “It’s not nostalgia, it’s misogyny.”
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However, Marilyn Monroe's legacy continues to captivate art lovers, as evidenced by Andy Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn," which sold for $195 million at Christie's last spring, setting a record for the most expensive work of American art ever sold.
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The painting was hailed by Alex Rotter, chairman of 20th- and 21st-century art at the auction house, as "one of the greatest paintings of all time," surpassing the genre of portraiture and superseding 20th-century art and culture.
The fate of "Forever Marilyn" remains uncertain as the legal battle continues. Nonetheless, the debate over the sculpture raises important questions about public art, censorship, and the role of artistic expression in society.
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