Giant Marilyn Monroe

Stamford, Connecticut

A 26-foot-tall, 15-ton sculpture, "Forever Marilyn," was erected in a small Stamford park on June 4, 2018, surprising the city as well as most of Connecticut.

The sculpture, by Seward Johnson, mimics a famous publicity photo of Monroe standing atop a New York City subway grate, her dress billowing in an updraft. Marilyn and her saucy pose will stay in Stamford through the summer of 2018, along with 35 of Johnson's other human-like sculptures, although the rest of the artworks are merely life-size and comparatively puny.

According to Marilyn's press release, her arrival in Stamford was coordinated by the city's Downtown Special Services District. Its president was quoted as saying that the 26-foot-tall sex symbol would create in Stamford "the optimism and drama of a bygone era." She's already appeared in several other cities, and countless photos have been snapped of tourists standing between her legs, mugging shamelessly for the camera.

This is apparently not the giant Marilyn Monroe that is expected to stand permanently in Palm Springs, California, beginning in 2020, even though the two statues are identical. Palm Springs has said that it has its Marilyn already in storage, waiting like a Hollywood diva until her surrounding park is landscaped to perfection.