Forever Marilyn
Seward Johnson’s tribute to Marilyn Monroe, a 26-foot-tall, 34,000-pound painted stainless steel and aluminum sculpture titled Forever Marilyn, is based on a scene in the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch.” It was created in 2011 and originally displayed at Pioneer Court in Chicago. It was moved to Palm Springs in 2012. In 2014, it was moved to Hamilton, New Jersey, for a retrospective honoring Seward. From there, it traveled to Bendigo in Australia for a Marilyn Monroe art exhibition, then to Stamford, Connecticut for exhibition honoring Seward and finally back to Palm Springs in 2021. Its controversial placement in the middle of a public thoroughfare with her backside facing the entrance of the Palm Springs Art Museum gave rise to litigation which was only resolved with a compromise agreement in July 2024 to create a new park to which the statue will be relocated.
Palm Springs, Riverside County
Photographers: Jacki Roberts, Andrew Schmidt