'Blue Seas' 1984 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Social Call' 1972 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
'Positano Beach' 1979 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
'Poolside Drinks' 1975 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
'Capri Cruise' 1958 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
'Hugh Hefner' 1961 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
'Laguna Beach' 1970 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Garden Party' 1970 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Catherine Wilke' 1980 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Carlton Hotel' 1958 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Having A Topping Time' 1959 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
'Katharine Hepburn' 1953 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
'Portofino' 1985 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Dinner Jazz' 1949 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Silver Gelatin, Black and White
'Park Avenue' 1953 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Silver Gelatin, Black and White
'Plantation Cocoyer' 1981 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Clifftop Pool' 1971 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment, Color
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Cannes Watersports 1958 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Klosters 1963 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Equestrian Entrance 1957 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Palm Beach Idyll
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Hotel Sports 1958 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Dinner Jazz 1949
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Cannes Watersports 1958 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Hotel Sports 1958 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Dinner Jazz 1949
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Palm Beach Idyll
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Positano Beach' Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'A Colourful Crew' Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Hotel Sports 1958 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'All Aboard' 1975 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Habitation Leclerc' 1975 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
Palm Beach Idyll Slim Aarons Limited Estate Print
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
'Harbour Island' Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
'Harbour Island' Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Palm Beach Idyll
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Palm Beach Idyll
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - New England Skiing
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Lounging in Gstaad
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - A Colourful Crew
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - Harbour Island
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Edition - New England Skiing
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Ski Instructors Only 1955
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Three Skiers 1955 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Polo Match 1990- Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Roquebrune-Cap-Martin 1970 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Color, Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Mazatlan Mansion 1984 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Island Paradise 1984 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - French Polo Crowd 1950 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Bahamian Hotel 1973 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Carriage Awaits 1977 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Lady Hamilton 1955
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
Slim Aarons Estate Print -Tennis Guests 1955
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Beverly Hills Cop 1952
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Estate Print - New England Skiing Essentials 1955
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Black and White, Silver Gelatin
Slim Aarons Estate Print - Dolores Guinness 1965 - Oversize
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Aarons began his career as a combat photographer in World War II, earning a Purple Heart. Reflecting on that experience, he famously remarked that the only beach worth landing on was...
Archival Pigment
American photographer Slim Aarons captured the 20th century’s international jet set — U.S. socialites, European royalty, Hollywood stars — at play in sun-kissed locales like Monaco, Saint-Tropez and Palm Beach, as well as other luxurious settings around the globe.
Committed to eschewing makeup and artificial lighting, Aarons created images that are at once candid and polished, combining the relaxed posture of his subjects, who trusted him to document their lives, with the visual sharpness of a seasoned art director. Having gotten his start taking pictures for the U.S. military magazine Yank during World War II, he contributed over the course of his career to Life, Town and Country and Holiday magazines and published several books.
Aarons was born in Manhattan in 1916. He joined the army at 18, shooting military maneuvers at West Point before serving as a combat photographer, for which he was awarded a Purple Heart. After the war, he moved to California and began snapping socialites and movie stars.
In the 1950s, Aarons opened a bureau for Life magazine in Rome, where he took pictures capturing the postwar scene. He was always able to win the trust of his elite subjects, who saw him as close to a peer, rather than a paparazzo.
In a 2002 interview with The Independent, Aarons remarked, ''I knew everyone. They would invite me to one of their parties because they knew I wouldn't hurt them. I was one of them.'' This access allowed him to document the rich and famous with their guard down, reading newspapers and magazines, talking on the phone, relaxing by the pool, and chatting with friends. The 1957 photograph The Kings of Hollywood, for example, which won him wide acclaim, shows Clark Gable, Van Heflin, Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart laughing together as they celebrate New Year’s Eve.
Many of Aarons’s best-known images involve games and sports. In the 1972 Poolside Backgammon, two young women play the board game of the title against the backdrop of a majestic Acapulco estate. In 1958’s Cannes Watersports, a couple attempts to glide across the Golfe de la Napoule on Jet Skis, one expertly and one hanging on for dear life. And in Penthouse Pool, shot in Athens in 1961, a young woman wearing a yellow bathing cap smiles coyly at the camera, surrounded by friends and brightly colored seat cushions, with the Acropolis faintly visible in the background.
Among Aarons’s books are 1974’s A Wonderful Time: An Intimate Portrait of the Good Life, and its 2003 sequel, Once Upon a Time. His final book, A Place in the Sun, was published in 2005, one year before his death.
Find a collection of vintage Slim Aarons photography on 1stDibs.
Find a broad range of photography on 1stDibs today.
The first permanent image created by a camera — which materialized during the 1820s — is attributed to Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. The French inventor was on to something for sure. Kodak introduced roll film in the 1880s, allowing photography to become more democratic, although cameras wouldn’t be universally accessible until several decades later.
Digital photographic techniques, software, smartphone cameras and social-networking platforms such as Instagram have made it even easier in the modern era for budding photographers to capture the world around them as well as disseminate their images far and wide.
What might leading figures of visual art such as Andy Warhol have done with these tools at their disposal?
Today, when we aren’t looking at the digital photos that inundate us on our phones, we look to the past to celebrate the photographers who have broken rules as well as records — provocative and prolific artists like Horst P. Horst, Lillian Bassman and Helmut Newton, who altered the face of fashion and portrait photography; visionary documentary photographers such as Gordon Parks, whose best-known work was guided by social justice; and pioneers of street photography such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, who shot for revolutionary travel magazines like Holiday with the likes of globetrotting society lensman Slim Aarons.
Find photographers you may not know in Introspective and The Study — where you’ll read about Berenice Abbott, who positioned herself atop skyscrapers for the perfect shot, or “conceptual artist-adventurer” Charles Lindsay, whose work combines scientific rigor with artistic expression, or Massimo Listri, known for his epic interiors of opulent Old World libraries. Photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron was given a Kodak camera as a child. Later, she shot on Polaroid film before buying her first 35mm camera in her teens. Barron's stunning portraits of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Warhol and other artists chronicle a crucial chapter of New York’s cultural history.
Throughout the past two centuries, photographers have used their medium to create expressive work that has resonated for generations. Shop a voluminous collection of this powerful fine photography on 1stDibs. Search by photographer to find the perfect piece for your living room wall, or spend some time with the work organized under various categories, such as landscape photography, nude photography and more.