Pop art pioneer James Francis Gill said he discovered a side of Marilyn Monroe “not a lot of people know” after producing his famous Marilyn Triptych artwork.
The American artist, 92, rose to fame in 1962 when his piece depicting Marilyn Monroe was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (Moma), just a few months after the Some Like It Hot actress had died aged 36 of a barbiturate overdose.
Gill had been inspired to paint the starlet after seeing what would become her last interview in a copy of Life magazine.
The result was his famous painting, which depicts the actress in three parts, showing her vulnerability with a series of haunting poses.
He told the Press Association: “I have just always really loved that kind of innocent side of Marilyn, and I have done a lot of rejecting of the bad stories people can say about her. She was incredible – look what she did with her life after where she came from. She achieved so much in such a short life.”
The painting is now part of the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait, which explores the late actress’s life, career and legacy on the 100th anniversary of her birth.
Soon after Gill’s work was acquired by Moma, he was inundated with calls from producers and “big movie stars” who wanted to have dinner with him.
“So, I became friends with a lot of people that knew her, so I know a side of Marilyn that a lot of people do not,” he said.
“That was really heavy duty for a guy from Texas,” he said.
After the painting was shipped off to New York in the 1960s, Gill said he did not see it for “another 30 or so years” before finally visiting the gallery in New York.
The artist said he was taken aback seeing it hanging in the National Portrait Gallery, too.
“It was incredible, because I have never really seen it in exhibition, even though it has been in a lot of other exhibitions, I never saw it hanging like that. It is one of those goodies that stands the test of time,” he said.
Alongside Andy Warhol, Gill is credited with being one of the pioneers of the pop art movement, however, it is a title that he still finds hard to wrap his head around.
“Well, I was not planning on being an artist – I just wanted to be a cowboy! But I painted from when I was about five years old and even though I was not really interested in being an artist, it was always there,” he said.
At the same time that Marilyn Triptych is on display at the National Portrait Gallery, a full exhibition of his work is happening close by at Castle Fine Art Covent Garden, which brings together key pieces from across his collection beyond his seminal work.
Going back into his archives when preparing for this exhibition, Gill said he was now considering circling back and completing old pieces of Monroe he found that were “half-finished”.
With a career spanning decades and having seen countless developments in the art world, Gill isn’t concerned about the impact of AI on artists.
“You know I have thought about it a lot, because AI is heavy duty, but what I have noticed is that AI cannot do what I do. No, not at all. And so it is just up to maybe galleries, dealers, reporters that point out that AI is incredible, but Jim Gill is way better,” he declares.
Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait is on at the National Portrait Gallery until September 6. Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait – A Defining Moment for James Francis Gill is on at Castle Fine Art Covent Garden until June 14.
