At the start of the 20th century, Saint-Tropez was a peaceful and picturesque fishing village dominated by its 16th-century citadel. From the 1950s, the first city liberated during the landing of Provence became an internationally known seaside resort of the French Riviera and a vacation spot for the European and American jet-set as well as for tourists. Described by Guy de Maupassant in 1888, the village first attracted painters in the wake of Paul Signac, who set up his studio there in 1892, then personalities such as Colette, Louise de Vilmorin, Arletty, and Jean Cocteau in the 1920s and 1930s. The release of Et Dieu... créa la femme in 1956, starring Brigitte Bardot, sparked the enthusiasm of the New Wave artists for Saint-Tropez and largely contributed to the construction of its myth, subsequently fueled by the installation of the actress in La Madrague, on the territory of the locality.