Peruvian born artist Alberto Vargas, creator of 'The Vargas Girls', began his Hollywood career in 1919 when he was hired by Florence Ziegfeld to paint a series of watercolour portraits of the stars of his Ziegfeld Follies. The commission lasted until the 1930s when Vargas went on to work with all the major studios of the time including Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros. and M.G.M., who commissioned him to paint studio portraits of their starlets. This portrait of Ava Gardner was probably commissioned by M.G.M. following the smash hit success of their 1946 film The Killers, and it is likely that Gardner posed for the portrait.