Halsman recalls that she had to jump 200 times at the photographic session, but because "she was such a perfectionist and everything had to be just right, she told me as she left: 'Philippe, if something is wrong with the pictures, don't hesitate to call me up-even if it is 4 in the morning. I'll come over and jump again for you'"
~ Philippe Halsman (1906-1979)
In 1959, Philippe Halsman asked Marilyn Monroe to do something simple that revealed something extraordinary: jump.
What followed became one of the most iconic portrait sessions of the 20th century - Marilyn suspended mid-air, free of pose, artifice, and control. In that moment, Halsman believed the “mask falls,” and what remains is something closer to truth than performance.