In the late 1940's, French car engineer, Louis Réard invented a two-piece swimsuit that exposed the navel. Believing it would cause an explosion of excitement, he named it after the Bikini Atoll nuclear bomb test. In 1960, 15 year old Brian Hyland's hit recording, Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, was released.

This painting incorporates the 1946 U.S. Air Force photograph depicting the first an atomic bomb test on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Twenty-three such nuclear weapons tests were detonated by the United States there.

Details