20-Year-Old Marilyn Monroe Photographs On Malibu Beach In 1946

Before she was breaking hearts all around the world, Marilyn Monroe was Norma Jeane Dougherty, and there was only one heart she cared about: that of photographer André de Dienes.

Back in 1945 the lovers travelled together to the famous Malibu beach where the photographer snapped a bunch of photos of 20-year-old Norma that would eventually jump-start her career as a Hollywood superstar.

Besides the photos André de Dienes left a comment:

“She was twenty and had never experienced the intoxication of success, yet already there was a shadow over her radiance, in her laughter. I asked her to react instinctively, without giving herself time to think, to the words happiness, surprise, reflection, doubt, peace of mind, sadness, self-torment… and death. When I said ‘death’ she took hold of the folded dark-cloth and covered her head with it. Death to her was blackness, nothingness. I tried to coax another reaction from her. Death might be a beginning, the hope of an everlasting light. She shook her head: ‘That’s what death is for me.’ She turned towards me, her face set and despairing, eyes dulled, her mouth suddenly bereft of colour. To her, death was the end of everything.”

(h/t: vintage everyday)