Did you know that last Friday was Marilyn Monroe’s birthday? She would have been 86 years old.

The world’s greatest sex symbol was a luminous mix of va-va-voom and vulnerability. And 50 years after her death, she’s still regularly in the news. Brad Pitt just signed on as producer of an upcoming biopic. Photographer Lawrence Schiller released two editions of a book called “Marilyn and Me” with an accompanying exhibition at the Steven Kasher Gallery.

While hanging some artwork on the second floor of our house, I realized that I own a couple of images of Marilyn too. One is a small framed reproduction of Andy Warhol’s Gold Marilyn Monroe (1962) that I bought from the MoMA Store online. (It was love at first sight–and cost only $50!)

Placing an icon.

It hangs in the narrow vertical wall space between the guest room and a linen closet.

That famous face floating in a 2″ deep, hand-stained frame made in Vermont.

The second image is a drawing I did, like, 25 years ago based on a photo of Linda Evangelista styled as The Blonde Bombshell in Vogue.

One of my favorite colored pencil drawings.

It hangs in our serene master bedroom.

Sadly, the colors in this photo are very washed out, but you get the picture.

Both of my Marilyns are sheltered from direct sunlight, but I think the legend herself would prefer to bask in the glow.

Update on June 24, 2012: There is a new exhibition called “Marilyn” at the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, Italy that  runs from June 20, 2012 through Jan. 28, 2013.