Although everyone knows Andy Warhol's image of Marilyn Monroe, few people know the story of the Shot Marilyn series.

In 1964 Warhol painted a series of five paintings of Marilyn Monroe, four of which were stacked against the wall of the studio "The Factory". A visitor, Dorothy Podbar, asked Warhol if she could shoot them. Presumably thinking she meant to photograph them, he agreed. She took a small revolver from her handbag and shot a hole through the stack of paintings.

She is said to have described the event as a piece of performance art. Warhol is said to have asked a mutual friend to "please ask Dorothy not to do that again".