NEW YORK - Christie's has announced that the largest collection of photographs featuring Marilyn Monroe to ever come to market will be featured as a part of their Dec. 16-17 sale of The Constantiner Collection of Photographs.

A captivating compilation, it includes photos of the screen legend that are rarely seen and which span Monroe's life from the time when she was not known to the world through to the weeks leading to her tragic and untimely death.

The Constantiner Collection offers an extensive and deeply personal insight into the life and career of Monroe - the greatest screen siren of all time. Demonstrating the many facets of Monroe's complex life, this collection fully celebrates her beloved public image with a range of jubilant works, while a selection of candid and profoundly intimate photographs provides a powerful observation of her personal nature, exploring the fragile and vulnerable quality of her extraordinary appeal.

The star is presented through the lens and artistry of an impressive roster, including Andy Warhol, André de Dienes, Tom Kelley, Elliott Erwitt, Eve Arnold, Garry Winogrand, Milton Greene and Bert Stern. Portraits by de Dienes dating from 1945-1949 show the teenage Norma Jeane Baker in the first blossoming of her beauty (estimates from $3,000); Tom Kelley's famous 1949 color nude of Monroe on a red background was featured in the premiere issue of Playboy as the magazine's first ‘Sweetheart of the Month' (estimate: $10,000-15,000).

The celebrated scene of Monroe standing on a subway grating with her skirt billowing up is captured through several lenses including those of Erwitt, Winogrand and George Zimbel.

Richard Avedon's 1957 portrait captures a sad, touching, off-guard Monroe (estimate: $25,000-35,000), while a suite of 59 prints - made as a dedicated exhibition for Le Mois de la Photo in Paris in 1992 - includes all the key images from the extended shoot from 1962 by Bert Stern for American Vogue that became ‘The Last Sitting.' The planned September 1962 Vogue feature was just about to go to press when news came through of her tragic death. The text was changed and it ran as a memorial tribute (estimate: $100,000-150,000).

The Constantiner Collection will also feature an extraordinary selection of works by Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon and Irving Penn.

View all images and additional information regarding this sale online at www.christies.com.