Rihanna recently dropped $160,000 for new artwork, a Swarovski crystal bedazzled Marilyn Monroe portrait that glistens in the light because she reportedly identifies with the fallen star.

British artist Claire Milner was commissioned through Gemstone Creative to construct the five square-foot mural of Monroe for 23-year-old Rihanna's Beverly Hills mansion. The artwork, which took four months to complete, is comprised of more than 65,000 Swarovski crystals weighing in at a total of nearly 120 pounds.

Because of who Rihanna is, everything had to be done through her interior decorators, Milner explained to The Sun, But they told me afterwards that she loved it.

The Sun reported that Rihanna spent extra to have the Marilyn portrait shipped to her home.

A source told The Sun that Rihanna wanted the artwork of Monroe because she identifies with the late-movie star, experiencing the same pressures of fame, according to the report. Milner tried to capture this element when creating the piece.

A 100 per cent Swarovski crystal portrait is very luxurious - people stand and stare because it constantly changes colour, sending rainbows round the room, she said. I tried to show the glitter of the public life and then the sadness in Marilyn's eyes.

Rihanna has been on a spending spree for new piece for her home, with previous reports she dropped a fortune for a gun chandelier for her living room and Bob Marley paintings for her reggae room, AOL Music reported. However, reports emerged earlier in January that the singer was selling her 8,520-square-foot Beverly Hills Post Office-area home for $5.03 million, which she purchased two years prior for $6.9 million.

UK-based Claire Milner has private collections in Australia, France, Ireland, Italy, Trinidad, U.K. & the U.S. and has done similar crystal-embellished portraits of David Beckham and Barack Obama, which can be viewed on her Facebook page and her Web site.

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