Marilyn Monroe Painting Sells for $78,000

What to say? Somehow, this drawing of a rose, that Marilyn Monroe originally dedicated to President J.F. Kennedy, makes her seem even more human to me. Unlike her leather-bound phone directory, which sold for $90,000 at the same auction, the drawing tells me something about the real Marilyn.

It tells me that she was lonely. It tells me that she was searching for a genuine, sentimental relationship of love. The fact that she never gave the painting to Kennedy and later rewrote the dedication to herself reveals that she had realized that Kennedy would never be a "true love" and that her feelings for him would never lead to the kind of relationship she yearned for.

The painting, to me, is a symbol of a tragedy in the making. It is a cry for help; a cry that was never heard; and help that never came.

The BBC story on the auction can be found here.