On 16 May, the exhibition Becoming Marilyn & Becoming Elvis – Photographs from the MUUS Collection opened at the Centro Cultural de Cascais, promoted by Fundação D. Luís I in collaboration with the MUUS Collection and Terra Esplêndida, and with the support of the Cascais Municipal Council. The exhibition runs until 6 September 2026.

The exhibition brings together photographs taken by André de Dienes and Alfred Wertheimer of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, respectively, on the threshold of stardom, from the prestigious MUUS Collection. “Becoming Marilyn” gathers the images De Dienes created over a decade around Norma Jeane Baker, from their 1945 encounter, when she was just 19 years old and an unknown model, tracing her metamorphosis into Marilyn Monroe, the most photographed star in the world. “Becoming Elvis” reconstructs, through Wertheimer’s lens, two weeks in the life of a 21-year-old: the journeys between Memphis and New York and the behind-the-scenes of his first television appearances, in a portrait of rare intimacy that fame would make impossible just months later.

The choice of 2026 is no coincidence: marking the centenary of Marilyn Monroe’s birth and the seventieth anniversary of the release of Elvis Presley’s first album and film, Cascais joins the global celebration of two of the greatest icons of the twentieth century.

Among those present at the inauguration were Luís Almeida Capão, Vice-President of the Cascais Municipal Council; Salvato Teles de Menezes, President of the Board of Fundação D. Luís I; Lucrezia di Martino, Director of Strategic Partnerships at the MUUS Collection; Rui Pereira, Director of Terra Esplêndida, and American actress Kelli Garner.