Rare Monroe Pics Up for Auction

Christie's is selling a collection of Marilyn Monroe photographs that span the star's life from her first modeling assignment to weeks before her death, the AP reports. The collection, taken by the some of the world’s most famous photographers, captures Monroe in all her various moods and is expected to sell for around $1 million.

The auction’s prize piece is a 1957 shot of a dejected-looking Monroe by Richard Avedon, which is expected to fetch around $35,000. The photographer "banished every trace of the erotic charm and effervescence for which the actress was celebrated,” a note from the auction house reads. "Behind the beautiful face, her spirits sag as gravely as the body beneath the sequined dress." (More Marilyn Monroe stories.)