This 1955 photograph of Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold is among the Magnum collection now open to the public

“When you picture an iconic image, but can’t think who took it or where it can be found, it probably came from Magnum.”

The Magnum Photo archive, widely considered one of the greatest photography collections in the world, with images from photography masters like Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and many others, is set to open its doors to the public next week.

With more than 1,300 boxes of photographic materials dating from the past 80 years, the Magnum Photos Collection features some of the last century’s most iconic photographs. That includes Steve McCurry’s haunting image from 1985 of an Afghan refugee in Pakistan, Henri Cartier-Bresson’s iconic puddle-jumper from 1932, Elliot Erwitt’s photo of a veiled Jacqueline Kennedy at her husband’s funeral in 1963, a series of photographs that chronicles the 1961 John Huston movie The Misfits, with Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable, and countless more.

The opening of the collection marks the end of decades of tight control around the images, after they were acquired by an investment firm earlier this year. Now they will be available for viewing by the public for the next five years at the University of Texas at Austin’s Ransom Center.

The Center’s director, Thomas F. Staley, lauded the collection’s immense “scope and diversity.” He added, “Magnum photographers have artfully chronicled some of the century’s most critical moments and figures, from social unrest to war, from political leaders to celebrities, and their work has often given voice to those traditionally omitted from news reporting.”

What do you think about the collections availability to the public? Which of the original prints would you be most excited to see?