On June 1, 1926, in a ward of the indigent ward of Los Angeles General Hospital, Norma Jeane Mortenson was born. The world didn't know it yet, but Marilyn Monroe was coming into the world the greatest sex symbol in cinema history and, at the same time, one of Hollywood's most underrated actresses.

Born to a schizophrenic mother who couldn't care for her, raised between orphanages and foster families, Norma Jeane found in cinema not just a career but an identity rebirth. In 1946, at twenty years old, she bleached her hair, changed her name, and signed her first contract with Fox. Marilyn Monroe was born for the second time.

To mark her centenary, we celebrate her through three vintage Italian hand-painted movie posters original works by the Maestri Cartellonisti who, with brush and tempera, managed to capture something photographs alone could never have: the ambiguous soul of a woman who was far more than she appeared.

The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Directed by John Huston, this film noir marks one of Marilyn's first significant roles, when she was still virtually unknown. She plays Angela Phinlay, mistress of a corrupt lawyer a minor role on paper, but one that struck audiences so powerfully it transformed her into a presence impossible to ignore. The Italian hand-painted poster perfectly conveys the film's nocturnal tension: that uniquely Italian ability to distill a film's entire atmosphere into a single hand-painted image, with an evocative power no photograph could match.

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Billy Wilder directs what would become one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history: Marilyn's white dress lifted by the air current from a New York City subway grate. The title alludes to the restlessness of seven years of marriage and Wilder uses Marilyn as the embodiment of every forbidden fantasy of the average American man. But she, with her natural irony and extraordinary comic timing, transcends the character and becomes something greater. The Italian poster artist who created this piece captured that rare lightness Marilyn's unique ability to be sensual and innocent at the same time.

Bus Stop (1956)

Perhaps the least known film to general audiences, but one of the most important in Marilyn's artistic history. After studying at the Actors Studio in New York, she wanted to prove she could truly act. The result is a remarkable performance: Chérie, a small-time singer with dreams of making it big, is a vulnerable, melancholic, real character. Critics discovered her as an actress in this film. The Italian hand-painted poster, with its characteristic warm chromatic rendering and expressive brushwork of the cartellonista school, pays tribute to this more authentic, less constructed Marilyn.

Three films, three different moments of the same woman. The Marilyn of The Asphalt Jungle is still Norma Jeane finding her way. The Marilyn of The Seven Year Itch is the myth at its absolute peak. The Marilyn of Bus Stop is the actress who wants to be taken seriously.

The Italian Maestri Pittori Cartellonisti, with their extraordinary and now unrepeatable work, left behind a portrait of her that goes beyond photography: they painted not just a face, but an era.

Browse the complete catalog of original Italian hand-painted posters dedicated to Hollywood's greatest stars →