“On the deserted beach, shells and crustaceans,” Brigitte Bardot sang of the melancholy of late summer in her iconic 1963 song “La Madrague,” forever associated with her little corner of paradise on the Route des Canebiers in Saint-Tropez. The beach—a place to see and be seen—catapulted Brigitte Bardot into the spotlight one day in May 1953. From then on, the actor and musician would forever be associated with the festival’s golden age. As the summer vacation season begins, we revisit Bardot’s most sun-drenched photos—in which she appears by turns sultry and mischievous—on Mediterranean beaches, and beyond. Brigitte Bardot on the beach in 1950.