Palm Springs’ on-again, off-again love affair with Marilyn Monroe — or, at least, the 26-foot statue of her — has taken a giant step forward. The Seward Johnson sculpture that visited the California city from 2012 to 2014 will be installed permanently at an upcoming downtown park next year.
P.S. Resorts, a group of hotels aimed at promoting tourism, as well as city and tourism officials worked to bring the statue back to the city. Construction of the park will begin soon, and the sculpture will be installed near the Palm Springs Art Museum, Randy Garner of Visit Palm Springs wrote in an email.
Preliminary plans for the statue were announced last month. “Marilyn has become somewhat of an icon for Palm Springs, and some love her and some not so much, but at the end of the day she’s become part of our brand,” City Councilman J.R. Roberts told the Desert Sun. The sculpture will travel from Johnson’s studio on the East Coast and across the country on a flatbed truck.
The price of the sculpture was not disclosed.
The larger-than-life “Forever Marilyn” sculpture depicts the actress in an iconic billowing-dress-in-the-air scene from the 1955 film “The Seven Year Itch.” The statue first arrived in Palm Springs courtesy of the Sculpture Foundation, an organization Johnson created to promote public art. After it left Palm Springs, it toured other cities. During its run, the statue evoked strong opinions, from those who loved the Insta-friendly giant and those who hated it.
