18 photos with destinies behind them (19 photos)

History isn't just dates, battles, and dry facts from textbooks. It's, above all, people. Those who lived, loved, worked, dreamed, and left their mark long before us.





This collection features 18 images that remind us that history has a face. Among them are those whose names are known throughout the world—Marilyn Monroe, Leo Tolstoy, Pablo Picasso, Audrey Hepburn. And those whose names remained behind the scenes—Kentucky miners, a Norwegian craftsman, a Belgian aviator, a Wild West troupe in Rome. Each photo is like a frozen moment of someone's life. Sad or happy, heroic or mundane. But always real. Look, look closely. This is history. And it has a face.

1. Hélène Dutrieu in her flying machine, September 6, 1911



Belgian world champion cyclist, stunt cyclist, stunt motorcyclist, race car driver, stuntwoman, aviation pioneer, wartime ambulance driver, and military hospital director.

2. A miner with his wife, children, and grandchildren at his home in Bell County, Kentucky, 1946.





3. Actress Jessica Lange poses for photographer Giancarlo Botti to promote her film "King Kong." Paris, France, December 1976



4. Pablo Picasso with his wife, ballerina Olga Khokhlova. 1920s.



5. Members of Bill Cody's Wild West Show troupe on vacation in Rome, Italy, during their 1906 European tour.



6. A woman enjoys a meal on a dirigible en route from Paris to Berlin. 1928



7. Leo Tolstoy with his grandchildren Ilya and Sophia, 1909



8. A couple on a Malvern Star side-by-side bicycle, New South Wales, Australia, 1930s years



9. Natalie Portman's high school photo from the yearbook. 1999



10. Vladimir Basov in his youth



11. ABBA in front of their billboard on the Sunset Strip, 1978 year



12. An elderly Norwegian man named Eilof Bråten, photographed in Boo, Norway, circa 1895



Bråten earned his living by traveling from village to village repairing cups and other utensils, as well as working as a shoemaker and tinsmith.

13. Marilyn Monroe, during the filming of her last completed film, The Misfits, in a casual shot with her favorite makeup artist and friend, Allen "Whitey" Snyder.



14. Brigitte Bardot in Louveciennes, 1952



15. Whitney Houston and Kelly Price on stage during a pre-production party The Grammy Awards ceremony at a Hollywood nightclub on the evening of February 9, 2012.



Less than 48 hours later, Whitney drowned in her Beverly Hills hotel room.

16. Audrey Hepburn, photo by Cecil Beaton, circa 1953



17. Leonid Brezhnev's visit to Cuba. Havana, 1974



18. A tired miner shares a simple meal with his young son after a long day of work in Harlan County, Kentucky, 1946