Organized by Matthias Harder, the exhibition, created in agreement with the Newton Foundation, features around 250 photographs by Helmut Newton.

Next to the most iconic images are many previously unpublished works illustrating lesser-known aspects of his work and his creative process, which is revealed through polaroids and contact sheets.

The exhibition covers the whole career for one of the best-loved and most talked-about photographers of all time. Alongside the shots that made history, which appeared on the most important covers of fashion magazines, a corpus of previously unpublished shots reveals lesser-known aspects of Newton's work. A specific focus is devoted to fashion shoots considered revolutionary at the time, such as the series inspired by the films of Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut and Federico Fellini. Polaroids, contact prints, special publications and archive materials allow the visitor to enter the heart of Helmut Newton's creative process.

Chronological chapters recount the different stages of the photographer's life and career, from his early days to his final years, with images that have become part of our visual and collective memory, such as the Big Nudes series. Until the very end, Newton continued to enchant and provoke the public with his complex work on femininity, challenging all attempts to categorise women for over six decades. The protagonists of his shots are subjects who have full awareness of their bodies, subtle irony and a defiant attitude towards others, without ever falling into vulgarity or banality.

The exhibition starts in the 1940s in Australia and continues through the 1950s in Europe, the 1960s in France, the 1970s in the United States and the 1980s between Monte Carlo and Los Angeles, up to the numerous shoots around the world in the 1990s and the last period of his career.

The Ara Pacis museum space offers an exclusive selection of about ten shooting images that Newton took in Rome, not presented in previous exhibitions. These are fashion shots that the photographer took, creating those ephemeral and intense atmospheres that only he could evoke, combining the charm of the Capital with that of the subjects, chosen to embody his visions.