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Marilyn Monroe in the Nevada desert in 1960, going over her lines for a difficult scene she is about to play with Clarke Gable in the 1961 film The Misfits.

About the work:

In 1960, Eve Arnold joined the set of The Misfits — a film written by Arthur Miller for his wife, Marilyn Monroe. But by the time shooting began in Nevada, the marriage was quietly falling apart.

Monroe was under intense pressure. The script kept changing. She was surrounded by experienced actors — including Clark Gable, her childhood idol — who could adapt quickly and effortlessly. Marilyn struggled to keep up, and it left her feeling exposed.

The image shows her alone, head down, absorbed in the script — trying to learn her lines for a difficult scene she was about to film.

It’s a picture of quiet determination — and visible vulnerability.

The two women hadn’t worked together in four years. And yet:

“She looked into my eyes for a long moment to make sure she could still trust me…

She sighed and said, ‘I’m thirty-four years old. I’ve been dancing for six months.

I’ve had no rest. I’m exhausted. Where do I go from here?’”

— Eve Arnold, In Retrospect

This was less than a year before Monroe’s death.

Eve didn’t interrupt. She didn’t direct.

She simply stayed present — and made space for something real to rise to the surface.

“If you are careful with people, they will offer you part of themselves.

This is the big secret.”

— Eve Arnold

About the series:

In 1960, Marilyn Monroe arrived in the scorching heat of the Nevada desert to film “The Misfits”, a film written by her then-husband, the playwright Arthur Miller, as a farewell letter to Monroe. Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift, two established superstars, were cast to play the leading roles alongside Monroe under the direction of the seasoned director John Huston. At the time, it was set to become the most expensive black-and-white film ever made and would also be the last film in which Monroe appeared.

The production was plagued with difficulties. Huston was often drunk and regularly fell asleep on the set. Monroe’s marriage to Miller was falling apart, causing her to show up to work late, forgetful and sleep deprived. The actress confided in Eve Arnold, who was on set to take photographs and had built up a strong friendship with Monroe over their years of work.

“My most poignant memory of Marilyn is of how distressed, troubled and still radiant she looked when I arrived in Nevada,” Arnold remembered. ‘She looked into my eyes for a long moment to make sure she could still trust me. Then she drew her breath, sighed and said, ‘I’m thirty-four years old. I’ve been dancing for six months (on Let’s Make Love).

Less than a year later, Monroe would die of a drug overdose. Arnold’s images from the set of reveal the conflicted consciousness that first hid and then was trapped behind the mask of fame, showing Marilyn as by turns ordinary, anxious, hardworking, beautiful, and exhausted.