Brigitte Bardot smoking on set, 1971

About This Work

“I am certain I was in love with her,” Terry O’Neill said of Brigitte Bardot. “But she couldn’t speak a lick of English. And I didn’t speak French. So our relationship, regrettably, was only between my camera and her beauty.” In 1971, O’Neill was on the set of The Legend of the Frenchie King (Les Petroleuses) when the elements for one of the most iconic shots ever taken of Brigitte Bardot occurred to him. “It was a windy day and she was waiting to film a scene," O'Neill later recalled. "She kept brushing the hair out of her eyes. I thought if I could get a close-up of that moment, it would capture how sexy, strong and wild her image was. The the wind blew and I clicked the shutter. I had no idea if the photo would match the image I had in my mind until the film was developed, which, in the end, took weeks. Even now, remembering the first time I saw these images, I get chills.” When O’Neill took this photograph, he was already an established professional, having captured many of the biggest names of the 60s. Even so, he would always remember the experience as a personal watershed: the first time an image arrived fully-formed in his mind, which he then realised with his camera. Edition of 50 Digitally signed and embossed on the front, stamped and authenticated on the reverse by a representation of the Terry O'Neill archive C-Type Print

About the Artist

British photographer Terry O’Neill (1938-2019) made his name in the 1960s-70s, capturing shots of the stars he cosied up to on both sides of the Atlantic. Attributing his success with celebrities to genuinely liking his subjects and offering plenty of ‘compliments’, O’Neill presented figures such a...

Zebra One Gallery

Contemporary Art • Hampstead, London

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