Abstract
This interdisciplinary article explores the early history of heliotherapy (natural sunlight therapy) on the Cote d'Azur through its visual culture. It concentrates on images, and the texts within which they appear, of children undergoing heliotherapy dating to the First World War, as a way into examining the significance of the cure during a period of perceived national degeneration. By doing so, the article critically contextualises held notions of the region's reputation for hedonism, glamour and novelty. It argues that certain themes and strategies employed by practitioners to promote heliotherapy on the Cote d'Azur explain how the cure became naturalised and embedded into the region's raison d'etre as a sunny playground. Through the visual material, the article concentrates on three themes: its primitive roots in cults and sun-worship; its ability to produce euphoria in the patient; and its use as a regenerative practice for French citizens, especially pre-tubercular or tubercular children.
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