One hundred years after her birth, Marylin Monroe still intrigues and fascinates.

Her period of celebrity was short but intense - she became one of the most photographed and painted people on the planet.  

Many of those images are now being shown in a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London, where her image is reconstructed through rare photographs, iconic pop art, and haunting, previously unseen, images taken just days before her death. 

One of the highlights is the Marilyn Triptych by pop art pioneer James Francis Gill, who was inspired to paint it in the weeks immediately following Marilyn Monroe's death, having seen a photoshoot of her in Life magazine.

The 91-year-old spoke to CGTN Europe and explained why Marilyn Monroe still intrigues people after all these years.

"Fascinating face, there's no other face like that. But she had that quality: everyone knows Marilyn Monroe from the photographs whichever side they take, she was a different superstar than superstars."

Rosie Broadley is the curator of the exhibition and she noted that Monroe was many things to many people.

"She's an icon of beauty, she's an icon of celebrity. You also get this idea of ​​tragedy related to that.

"The other thing that I think is important in terms of her legacy is that she died young - she's frozen in time in a way, we never saw what happened next, so that is endlessly fascinating.

"And then I think there are certain works of art that have kept her in mind most famously. Andy Warhol's Marilyns which turned her into this icon and elevated her, she became a work of art as well as a popular cultural figure; so she sort of exists in these separate worlds, these separate spheres."

Marilyn in China

Despite being best known as an quintessentially American icon, Marilyn Monroe is highly popular right around the world, especially in China.

In 2016, Julien's Auctions toured a massive collection of Monroe's personal belongings in China at Beijing's World Financial Center to showcase these items to eager Chinese collectors.

Today, Chinese investors make up a major portion of the global market for Marilyn Monroe memorabilia. 

Rosie Broadley says Marilyn is a very accessible icon for people from all countries.

"She was such a genius in making this image instantly recognisable. Anyone can tell you it's the blonde curls, the red lips, the beauty spot and, without having seen her films, there's something instant about her.

"I think what the art shows is that all the different painters who depicted her in different ways she can also be anything people want her to be, that's what's really interesting so I think that's what applies to different nations who like her for different reasons."

The exhibition is on in London until September 6.