Visitors of Erarta Museum will get a first-hand experience of the phenomenon that is Mario Testino, whose works have attracted tributes such as “there is no other artist with such a strong desire for beauty in the world of photography” from Karl Lagerfeld. The vast exhibition encompassing over 50 large-scale works created between 1996 to 2015 presents a mixture of portraits and fashion photographs of celebrities whose names will be instantly recognised by billions worldwide, yet the way they are captured through Mario Testino’s lens brings out very different shades of their personality. The feeling one gets from looking at a photograph by Mario Testino is perhaps best summed up by Anna Wintour: “Does anyone look more gorgeous, or regal, or sexy, or subversive, or luminous, than when captured by Mario?”

The exhibition features many iconic images that have resonated loudly throughout the past two decades — the cover of Madonna’s seventh studio album “Ray of Light”, provocative shots of Kate Moss that adorned billboards worldwide, the vivid and sensual portrait of Lady Gaga, the intimate nudes of Demi Moore and Gisele Bündchen and the candid snap of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger sharing a joke, just to name a few. From supermodels such as Cara Delevigne, Natalia Vodianova and Naomi Campbell to Hollywood A-list of Brad Pitt, Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet — naming everyone featured in the exhibition at Erarta would be akin to reciting the guestlist for the world’s most exclusive party. Mario Testino has always been able to get stars to show a side of themselves that they would only be comfortable revealing in front of his camera, and his philosophy has always been that because he is allowed to see things that most people are not, it’s his obligation to show them to the world.

Mario Testino himself says that his “ideal fashion picture has a foot on both sides of reality: I want to enjoy fantasy so real you believe you could go there, so convincing you feel you are already there, but so beautiful that in a way you know it could only be created or exist in a picture”. Erarta Museum is delighted to be able to present the opportunity to every visitor to experience such a fantasy. The exhibition runs from the 31st of May 2019 until the 29th of September 2019 and is free for all Erarta Members.