Jim Young / Reuters

A 26-foot tall statue of Marilyn Monroe is separated into four pieces in Chicago on May 7, 2012.

NBC Chicago reports — A 40,000-pound, 26-foot statue of Marilyn Monroe's famous pose from "The Seven-Year Itch" was dismantled Monday night in preparation for the long drive to its new home in California.

The initially controversial "Forever Marilyn" creation by Seward Johnson was unveiled last July. She now heads to Palm Springs, where the actress was discovered by a Hollywood agent. 

Video: Late, insecure and easily offended — Memories of Marilyn

It's a bittersweet moment for some who viewed Monroe's iconic, skirt-billowing pose as sexist. One website, VirtualTourist.com, ranked her the worst piece of public art in the world.

Rare photos of Marilyn Monroe six weeks before her death

VirtualTourist also questioned why a likeness of the star's famous, New York City-based stance was placed in Chicago and said the towering, blown dress forced many to peer up at Marilyn's panties.

Marilyn's 'subway' dress sets new record at auction

The statue will be installed in Palm Springs by the end of May, where it is expected to stay in place until June 2013.

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Jim Young / Reuters

Jim Young / Reuters

Jim Young / Reuters

Slideshow: Rare look at Marilyn Monroe

A collection of photographs and memorabilia from Marilyn's longtime makeup artist, Allan "Whitey" Snyder," is set for auction.

Launch slideshow

Just when you thought perhaps you'd seen every image ever taken of Marilyn Monroe, a new set of rare prints has emerged, taken just six weeks before her death in 1962.

Photographer Bert Stern's chromogenic prints, from a session called The Last Sitting, are set to go to auction in New York on May 8. Stern had three sessions with the Hollywood legend for Vogue magazine late in June 1962.

BNPS

Monroe is seen posing topless, holding what appears to be a cocktail, lounging on a bed and playing with a sheer scarf.

A story on London's Daily Mail website says that because the prints have been displayed for many years, the color has "shifted" slightly. The site quotes Judith Eurich from the British auction house Bonhams, which is selling the prints: "This is a very popular set. It is unusual to find a whole set and the owner has had them since they were printed."

BNPS

The set of photographs is expected to fetch $25,000.

TODAY.com previously reported on more Monroe photographs up for auction this spring, including images taken by the actress' longtime makeup artist Allan "Whitey" Snyder.

Monroe died on Aug. 5, 1962, at age 36.

Related content:

• Slideshow: Makeup artist's rare images of Monroe
• Video: Never-before-seen Monroe photos
• Slideshow: Monroe memorabilia auctioned

Julien's Auctions

Makeup artist Allan "Whitey" Snyder applies makeup to Monroe on the set of 1953's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

Julien's Auctions

Monroe posing in a test photo taken by Snyder on the set of her final film, 1962's "Something's Got to Give."

Randee Dawn report's on Today's Entertainment blog that makeup artist Allan "Whitey" Snyder had a unique relationship to Marilyn Monroe that resulted in the images now up for auction:

"It's spectacular," said Martin Nolan of Julien's Auction House, who brought several of the photos going up for auction on March 31 to the TODAY studio Friday, and spoke to Matt Lauer. "He was involved with her on the set and off the set, Matt, so he had amazing, privileged access."

Many of the photos were taken in the 1940s and 1950s and show Monroe smiling, giving her all to the camera while on location for some of her well-known and lesser-known films. Reportedly, Snyder would photograph Monroe to calm her down when she was feeling jittery.

"The camera loved Marilyn Monroe, but Marilyn loved the camera," said Nolan. "When the camera was rolling she became Marilyn Monroe. She became distracted from her own issues and just played the role. She loved the camera."

See lots more images in this slideshow: Rare look at Marilyn Monroe.

Julien's Auctions

Snyder applies Monroe's makeup on the set of 1960's "Let's Make Love."

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Eve Arnold / MAGNUM PHOTOS

Marilyn Monroe on the set of John Huston's "The Misfits" in 1960.

Eve Arnold, a globe-trotting photojournalist who captured iconic images of Marilyn Monroe, has died, the Magnum photo agency said Thursday. She was 99.

Magnum spokeswoman Fiona Rogers said Arnold died peacefully Wednesday in a London nursing home.

Born in Philadelphia in 1912 to Russian immigrant parents, Arnold began working as a photographer in the 1940s and took pictures for Life magazine during a golden age of magazine photojournalism.

Her subjects included New York bartenders, Cuban fishermen and Afghan nomads; celebrities such as Joan Crawford and Elizabeth Taylor; and political figures including Jacqueline Kennedy, Malcolm X and Margaret Thatcher.

Eve Arnold / MAGNUM PHOTOS

Monroe resting in Bement, Ill., in 1955.

Her most famous shots include portraits of Monroe taken throughout the actress's career and collected in her book "Marilyn Monroe: An Appreciation."

"Themes recur again and again in my work," Arnold once said. "I have been poor and I wanted to document poverty; I had lost a child and I was obsessed with birth; I was interested in politics and I wanted to know how it affected our lives; I am a woman and I wanted to know about women."

Arnold joined the Magnum agency in the 1950s — the first woman admitted to the collective — after her images of fashion shows in Harlem caught the attention of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Eve Arnold / MAGNUM PHOTOS

Monroe on "The Misfits" set in Nevada.

Arnold settled in London in the 1960s, working for the Sunday Times newspaper. In the 1970s she traveled to the United Arab Emirates, photographing and filming Dubai's ruling family for "Behind the Veil," and was one of the first American photographers to work in China.

The photos she took there were exhibited in her first solo show, at the Brooklyn Museum in 1980, and published as "In China."

Arnold was a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and in 1995 was named Master Photographer by New York's International Center of Photography.

In 2003 she was named an officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, by Queen Elizabeth II for services to photography.

She is survived by her son, Frank, and three grandchildren. Funeral details were not immediately available.

Here are two clips of Arnold in a 1987 interview about her Monroe work

The mask on the worker in the first frame really takes that image to the next level, doesn't it?

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Nick Valenza helps to put some finishing touches on ''Forever Marilyn'', a sculpture by Seward Johnson, on July 14, in Chicago. The stainless steel and aluminum sculpture which stands 26 feet tall and weighs 34,000 pounds will be unveiled tomorrow and remain on display in Chicago through the spring of 2012. The sculpture was inspired by Marilyn Monroe's iconic scene in the 1955 movie Seven Year Itch.

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Autin Wright helps to put some finishing touches on ''Forever Marilyn''.

Scott Olson / Getty Images

Nick Valenza helps to put some finishing touches on ''Forever Marilyn''.

Matty Zimmerman / AP

Marilyn Monroe poses over the updraft of a New York subway grating while in character for the filming of "The Seven Year Itch" in Manhattan on Sept. 9, 1954. Sensual and seductive, but with an air of innocence, Monroe became one of the world's most adored sex symbols.

According to the AP:

An auction for Hollywood memorabilia from Debbie Reynolds' personal collection exceeded expectations Saturday.

Marilyn Monroe's "subway" dress by Travilla from "The Seven Year Itch" had an estimated value of $1 million to $2 million. It sold for more than $5.6 million, a new record.

Judy Garland's Dorothy test dress from "The Wizard of Oz" was estimated to sell between $60,000 and $80,000. After taxes, it was sold for $1,119,000.

Dorothy's test ruby red slippers, which were estimated to sell between $120,000 and $150,000, went for $627,000 including tax.

To read more about the auction of Reynolds' collection and what other pieces sold for, click here.