Tamara De Lempicka

#1. Born into Russian Nobility. Born Tamara Rozalia Gurwik-Górska in Warsaw in 1898, she grew up wealthy in St Petersburg. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 forced the family to flee, she supported herself by selling jewellery and painting portraits in Paris.

#2. Her Autoportrait. “Autoportrait (Tamara in the Green Bugatti)” (1929) was painted for the cover of German fashion magazine Die Dame. It became one of the defining images of the Jazz Age and of female independence.

#3. Hollywood Friendships. After emigrating to the United States in 1939, Lempicka lived in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, where her portrait subjects included film stars and producers. Madonna and Jack Nicholson became major private collectors of her work.

#4. A Baroness. Her second marriage in 1934 to Baron Raoul Küffner von Diószegh gave her the title she used for the rest of her life — she signed her later paintings simply “Baroness Küffner.”

#5. Ashes Scattered over Popocatépetl. She died in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in 1980. At her request, her ashes were scattered from a helicopter over the crater of the Popocatépetl volcano — a final theatrical gesture worthy of her Art Deco life.

Portrait de Marjorie Ferry (1932) - sold at Christie's London in 2020 for $21.2 million, setting a then-record for the artist.

Portrait de Madame Bott (1931) - sold at Sotheby's in 2013 for $21.2 million.

La Tunique Rose (1927) - sold at Sotheby's in 2019 for $13.4 million.

La Musicienne (1929) - sold at Christie's in 2018 for $9.1 million.

Autoportrait (Tamara in the Green Bugatti) (1929) - privately held; estimated value well above $50 million if offered today.

“Lempicka painted the 20th century the way the 20th century wished to see itself — sleek, fast and unrepentant.” Art historian, Ewa Malinowska

“Her figures are sculpted, not drawn; Art Deco never had a firmer hand.” Critic, Jacques Lefèvre

“She turned the automobile, the apartment block and the evening dress into a language of desire.” Scholar, Romano Di Marco

“No painter owns the Jazz Age more completely than Lempicka.” Curator, Inés Valverde

“Her autoportrait at the wheel is a modern Venus — only she is driving herself.” Researcher, Clémentine Arnaud

Centre Pompidou, Paris — major Art Deco holdings.

Museum of Modern Art, Nagoya, Japan.

Private collections of Madonna, Jack Nicholson, and Barbra Streisand — widely documented.

Pinacothek der Moderne, Munich.

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.

Sleek, sculptural figures rendered with chrome-like polish. Metallic silver-blues, deep greens, crimson reds. Urban geometric backgrounds — skyscrapers, curved car hoods, folded drapery. Faces with heavy-lidded eyes and glossy red lips. A synthesis of classical solidity and machine-age glamour. Every surface — skin, fabric, metal — rendered with the same hard brilliance. The defining visual language of 1920s–30s Art Deco.

Revolutionary Flight (1917–1918): Fled Russia with her husband after the Revolution.

Paris Apprenticeship (1918–1923): Studied with Maurice Denis and André Lhote at the Académie Ranson.

Art Deco Peak (1925–1935): Portraits of European aristocracy and Hollywood; autoportrait with the Green Bugatti.

American Period (1939–1962): Moved to Beverly Hills; flower still lifes and palette-knife abstractions.

Mexican Final Years (1974–1980): Settled in Cuernavaca; ashes scattered over the Popocatépetl volcano.

“I live life in the margins of society, and the rules of normal society do not apply to those who live on the fringe.”

“My goal is never to copy. Create a new style, clear luminous colours and feel the elegance of the models.”

Lempicka’s polish is unforgiving. Her skin and fabric surfaces are rendered with an enamel-like smoothness that shows any hesitation in brushwork. The sculptural modelling of her figures requires precise control of highlight and shadow, particularly in her silver-blue ranges. Backgrounds of architectural geometry must be drawn with straightedge discipline while flesh demands classical draughtsmanship. Reproducing Lempicka means mastering both the sharpness of Art Deco design and the subtlety of academic figure painting.