Marilyn Monroe "Last Sitting" portraits sell at auction
A special edition of Marilyn Monroe photos sold for $41,250 this week as part of Freeman's Auction, more than four times the $10,000 estimate.
The pictures were taken in June 1962 by photographer and portraitist Bert Stern, who was commissioned to shoot the model/actress at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles for Vogue magazine.
Over the course of three days, he took more than 2,500 photographs -- just six weeks before Monroe's death at age 36. It's no surprise the shoot would later become known as "The Last Sitting." The session featured a mix of fashion, portrait and nude portraits.
Some of the photos would later surface in Stern's book, "Marilyn Monroe: The Complete Last Sitting." According to a press release, although it's not hard to find singular photographs from the shoot, it's much less common to see a complete set like the one sold at the latest auction.
The auction comes just months after Stern died at his New York City home at age 83.
