The magic bowl

The internet is now one of the most vital sources of information for people all over the world. News spreads at breath-taking speed across the platforms of social media. One single click is enough to agree with someone else’s opinion or forward information to others. The split-second speed at which such decisions are taken generally doesn’t leave much room for careful consideration. All too often such speed comes at the detriment of diligence and quality.

“Marilyn Monroe – The Woman behind the Icon” is the name of an exhibition now on show at the Historisches Museum der Pfalz in Speyer. It brings to light another Marilyn Monroe, one that many people even today still don't know – a sensitive thoughtful person, an emancipated woman, a woman on a quest for self-fulfilment.  

This was a side of her that I first discovered many years ago in a well-researched and extremely moving biopic – and recently again when I came across some poetry she’d written.

On both these occasions I met a person whose real “me” was simply light years away from the image of the dumb blond, so consistently and relentlessly exploited and propagated for commercial imperatives.  

With the insights that it offers, this exhibition invites you to think not just about Marilyn Monroe but about iconic artists in general and their lives off stage. About the person behind the clichés.

I always was, and still continue to be, continuously astonished, impressed and thrilled by what other people who encounter original paintings by OUBEY discover in them.