Holidaymakers in sun loungers on the slopes at Verbier, Switzerland, February 1964.

**The artist: Slim Aarons**

Slim Aarons whose real name is Georges Allen Aarons enlists in the American Army at the age of 18. He becomes a photographer at the West Point Military Academy then a reporter during the Second World War. Regarding his participation in the conflict, which nevertheless earns him a Medal of Honour, Aarons simply says that the only beach worth landing on is the one " adorned with ravishing young semi-clad girls, sun-bathing peacefully in the sun". From 1950 to 1980, he becomes a Jet Set photographer and dedicates himself to the depiction of Hollywood glamour and luxury. The figures are exclusively celebrities, photographed in luxurious surroundings, often around a swimming-pool, in their own home. He constructs his career by only photographing " attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places." In 2002, he proclaims to The Independent newspaper: "I knew everyone, they invited me to their parties as they knew that I would not cause them any harm. I was one of them."