Daniel Vancas (American, 20th Century). Once in a Blue Moon, Marilyn Monroe. Oil on canvas. 40 x 24 inches (101.6 x 61.0...

Description

Daniel Vancas (American, 20th Century)
Once in a Blue Moon, Marilyn Monroe
Oil on canvas
40 x 24 inches (101.6 x 61.0 cm)
Signed and dated lower right
Signed, dated, titled, and inscribed on the reverse

Property from the Vanguard Gallery Archives, Carmel, California

The present work is accompanied by the following letter and poem from the artist.

My Dear Collector:
Thank you for collecting my precious painting. I hope this painting I created brings you thoughtful insight into the life and personality of this amazing woman. I also hope it captures the times and culture she inhabited. For additional information on this painting, I present to you the following essay and poem that I wrote.

THE MARILYN MONROE INTERVIEWS and THE BLUE MOON PAINTING - As a glamour and Pinup artist, I have been thinking about painting Marilyn Monroe for a long time. For 30 years I waited. I have been asked to paint her for that long, and always turned down any commission requests. Even when money was needed and offered in earnest. To understand why I avoided this is to understand how I was touched by some fragments of Stardust that fell from a blazing life. This comet of an icon was my first childhood memory of a movie star, a big screen crush, and my first awareness of death. All in a public figure passing. I was not quite 9 at the time when I first read the newspaper. I felt both a sense of loss and shock.

Since then I have watched her movies and appreciated her talent more over my adult years. I have bought books about her. I've been to her home, and to her grave. I've even held her famous white dress from the "Seven Year Itch"! I've had and still have vintage paintings and drawings by other artists who knew her, photographed, and painted her. But strangely, as an artist often painting glamour and pinup art myself, I have avoided her. It was a kind of high strangeness. I've also been a magnet. Over these years as a professional artist, I have been approached by many people who knew her both publicly, and in her private life. People who felt compelled to tell me about her. Some knew her in life, and others in death. I have had private conversations with those with personal stories about her modeling, movie career, her medical augmentations, seen her x-rays, shown her facial implants, and told of her private times. I heard from a man who as a child she would babysit. Even one who knew her husband, Joe, and told of the darkest secrets, that he believed she was murdered. Another was at her funeral and carried the casket. Even one who was at her autopsy again saw the proof of murder that was hushed up.

So I have been asked many times people why I have never painted Marilyn Monroe. And I never had an answer. It is rather curious even to me because it appears that I have been avoiding her since hearing of her death as a child. However, even long after her death, she has not been avoiding me. Maybe it was my lack of knowledge of who she is that delayed me. Or my fear of failure that stopped me. Or simply waiting for her complex biography to come into focus. Over time it slowly came to me piece by piece. Maybe this is what I needed before I could have (and did so by this reposting in 2023) thoughtfully and soulfully paint her.

Looking back, I now realize not one person or interview did I ever seek out. All had come to me by an unknown design or unseen force. All had walked into my studio and left bits and pieces of her. All of these people were all strangers to me, and even to each other. All felt compelled to share their stories and offer one little window that peeked into her private and professional life.

With each view, I saw a new facet of this creative sparkling gem called Marilyn. Though often flawed and vulnerable, yet a multifaceted brilliant diamond of life. Until one day I realized, maybe it was not me who was interviewing or probing her life, but perhaps it was she who was interviewing me.
With this essay, I present to you my original painting, which I call "The Blue Moon". Because life like hers is rare. Like a returning comet, a once-in-a-lifetime event, or a once in a "blue moon"!

Daniel Vancas - artist, creative writer

THE BLUE MOON painting and SHE WAS NOT, a poem is both by Daniel Vancas (c)
She was not someone's broken promise anymore.
She was the glowing gas of neon.
Arching and sparking her message
to those who would look and listen.
She was not the broken glass
he walked on.
She was the crystal vase
That never shattered
And lit a multitude of faces
In her faceted Reflections,
And the only true vessel
he never used.
She was not a dismissal,
Or a distress call
In retreat.
Not even a reiteration,
Revenue
Or an avenue of revenge.
She was not any of these things
But was so much more.
When it had ended
On his last sigh
That forever goodbye,
She could forgive,
had forgiven,
But had not ever forgotten.

"THE BLUE MOON" (c) Daniel Vancas 2023, All rights res.

"SHE WAS NOT" (C) Poetry by Daniel Vancas 2015, all rights res.

Classic Cars, Neon Lights, and a Pin-up or two - Daniel Vancas brings Americana to life with his brush. With his avid appreciation for the time period, Vancas captures the essence of Post War America by scouring vintage photographs to find the most iconic of scenes. This is readily apparent in Sky Power which celebrates the 1950s car and automobile culture with the Los Angeles Airport Parking lot depicting classic cars such as Buicks, Chevrolets, Mercurys, and even a Thunderbird. Similarly, Flight to Mars features a vintage Signal gasoline station complete with a Coca-Cola sipping pin-up. However, the artist can't help but add a touch of fun with a nod or two to the Space Race, Astronauts, and the odd Martian. Despite having started his artistic career later in life, California native Daniel Vancas is known throughout the world as a leader in pinup art and Americana scenes selling hundreds of paintings including commissions for Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood, and Nike.


More information about Vancas, Daniel Artist.

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