ALBURY'S $10.5 million redeveloped art gallery has landed its first major blockbuster exhibition which tracks the life and times of 1950s sex symbol Marilyn Monroe.
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Marilyn: Celebrating an American Icon has been shown in the US and Brazil, but will make its southern hemisphere debut in Albury next year.
Albury Council staff have been negotiating for two years to snare the exhibition.
It features more than 100 paintings, photographs and videos from public and private collections including works by renowned artists, Andy Warhol, Cecil Beaton, Richard Larter and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Confirmation of the exhibition to be held between February 12 and May 8 next year comes on the eve of Murray Art Museum Albury being officially opened on Friday.
Council staff is banking on the Marilyn Monroe exhibition having the same impact on MAMA as the Grace Kelly: Style Icon event had on Bendigo in 2012.
More than $10 million was also spent on the Bendigo gallery to bring it up to a standard capable of hosting international renowned exhibitions.
The Grace Kelly exhibition reportedly pumped $17 million into the Bendigo economy in a three-month period.
MAMA director Jacqui Hemsley said the Marilyn Monroe exhibition was a genuine coup for Albury.
“We are absolutely thrilled that MAMA's first major international exhibition will focus on such an icon of popular culture," she said.
"To this day no-one has come close to Marilyn Monroe for sheer charisma, glamour, sex appeal and star power.
"We know the Australian public will fall in love with her all over again.”
Ms Hemsley said a "Festival of Marilyn" would be held to complement the MAMA exhibition.
It will include screenings of her movies, period furniture and memorabilia sourced from public and private collections in Australia.
The exhibition charts Monroe's rise to stardom and ultimately her struggle with her own fame.
Monroe, 36, was found dead on August 5, 1962 in the bedroom of her own home.
Her sudden death was attributed to a barbiturate overdose.
Clarification: The Marilyn Monroe exhibition launch at Murray Arts Museum Albury, The Border Mail October 2, was slated as its sole southern hemisphere appearance – its Brazilian showing took place in Sao Paolo, in the northern hemisphere.
