Tamara de Lempicka: An Erotic Legacy of Elegant Modernity

Celebrated as a defining contributor to Art Deco aesthetics who encapsulated the Roaring Twenties, Tamara de Lempicka stridently created a new image of the modern woman in her portraits. A libertine, sexually expressive, social climber, experimental artists who fused styles, and an astute cultural protagonist, Lempicka’s art shimmered with a cinematic allure and female empowerment.

“My goal was never to copy, to create a new style, bright, luminous colors and to scent out elegance in my models”

Tamara de Lempicka

Making liberated female sexuality the linchpin of her art, Tamara de Lempicka’s unique style of Art Deco portraiture made her one of the most recognizable artists of the 20th century. The decorative quality of her paintings and astute combination of traditional portraiture with advertising techniques and photographic lighting in her charismatic portraits made Art Deco the perfect vehicle for her art.

Born in Warsaw in 1898 into a wealthy family, Maria Górska (as she was then known) met Tadeusz Lempicki, an attorney of noble family, and together they moved to Paris from St Petersburg in the wake of World War I and the Russian Revolution. And it was in the French capital that Lempicka was first exposed to the burgeoning modern art scene. 

Arriving in Paris with no money and a small child, the couple endured years of deprivation. “There are no miracles, there is only what you make,” said Lempicka, who took this mission statement to heart and set about changing her life. Through a relentless work ethic and a determination to capitalize on her social connections, Lempicka thrust herself into the limelight and into intense love affairs within high society to create a hedonistic lifestyle as an in-demand artist. 

Paris in the 1920s was a hotbed of modern artistic innovation. Exposed to cubism, futurism, and surrealism that shaped the era, Lempicka studied under renowned artists like Maurice Denis and André Lhote, who helped her hone her distinctive style, combining the angular precision of cubism with the classical refinement of Renaissance portraiture.

Described by some as a workaholic, Lempicka is said to have only allowed interruptions in her nine-hour painting sessions for necessities like a massage, a bath, and (of course) Champagne. Propelled by this ethic, Lempicka created a niche as a portraitist for high society figures. Perhaps her most famous piece is a self-portrait in a green Bugatti. It would define her as a symbol of women’s liberation and reflected her icy mantra, “there is only what you make,” as her iconic green Bugatti wasn’t actually green, but yellow. It wasn’t a Bugatti, but a Renault. And it wasn’t left-hand drive either. This was art in her own image and on her own terms. 

Signature Style

Absorbing the Avant Garde art of the era in Paris, Lempicka interpreted her artistic surroundings to create a softened approach to post-cubist abstraction that would become synonymous with Art Deco. The movement had emerged as a response to the ornate and organic forms of Art Nouveau and Lempicka’s clean lines, symmetry, and sleek, machine-like aesthetic exemplified these principles.

Her highly stylized figures illuminated in dramatic light created a type of polished portraiture that became her hallmark. Bold brushstrokes and almost metallic colors gave her paintings a sophisticated modernity. Exuding geometric precision, strong, confident women were draped in luxurious fabrics and exuded a cool detachment. See her portrait of Madame Boucard as an example.

Brimming with ideals of independence and empowerment that defined the evolving social landscape in Paris at the time, Lempicka reveled in an era of shifting morals. Revealing herself as bisexual she expressed herself using small geometric planes to depict images of women reclining, bathing, embracing, and entwined in each other’s naked body. The blatant display of the naked female body was a popular feature of Art Deco and her gentler-coloured form of cubism was easily acceptable to the bourgeoisie. 

Lempicka’s style cleverly absorbed enough of the Avant Garde scene to make it appear fresh. The sharp lines of cubism and the shiny gloss of futurism edged her portraits towards the avant-garde, while also occupying a niche between fine art and the decorative arts. It was palatable to the masses, but with just enough eroticism to set it apart. She wasn’t without controversy though and this did her image no harm. Her paintings, Women Bathing and Group of Four Nudes led critics to label her style as perverse Ingrism, referring to Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s bathers in Turkish Bath (1862). Lempicka leaned into this image and in real life played the art deco goddess of desire that she depicted on canvas.

Self-Portrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti) (1929) 

Commissioned for the cover of the German fashion magazine Die Dame (The Lady), Lempicka’s self-portrait is a symbol of modernity, independence, and wealth in a tight post-cubist composition that encapsulates the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. Her scarf billows in the wind, the sharp folds of the fabric, and the dramatic lighting exaggerate the feeling of speed in pure Art Deco detail. It’s one of her most iconic paintings and presents Lempicka as a sleek, confident woman behind the wheel of a luxury car in a portrait of unabashed self-determination and unapologetic sexuality.

Group of Four Nudes (1925)

Brimming with sexuality and eroticism, a group of writhing women are entangled in a sensual pose. Representing Lempicka’s sexual liberation, the sharply outlined bodies contort into one erotic mass. Reminiscent of Picasso’s Two Nudes (1905), the painting is composed in typically post-cubist fashion, with its shallow background almost inviting the viewer in to join in the sultry frolicking.  

Portrait of Marjorie Ferry (1932)

Themes of luxury, sensuality, and empowerment were often present in Lempicka’s paintings of idealized modern women – and this was evident in her portrait of Portrait of Marjorie Ferry. Wrapped in a blanket, stood on a balcony, and draped in bold lighting, the young woman was a British-born singer performing in Paris when she caught the eye of a wealthy financier who commissioned this portrait. 

La Tunique Rose (1927)

Luxuriantly spread across the chaise lounge, Lempicka’s appreciation of the female form is on full show in a portrait typical of her ability to portray women in a sexualized yet empowering way, shown at the top of the article. The sumptuous curves, dramatic and sultry pose, and the silky color create a dramatic and alluring painting that’s a decadent display of a woman in full possession of her sexuality.

Cultural Impact 

At her height in the 1920s and 1930s, Lempicka’s work was highly sought by European aristocracy, celebrities, and the cultural elite. One of her most important patrons was Dr Pierre Boucard and his wife. An avid modernist who already owned Lempicka’s, Myrto, featuring two women lying on a couch, Boucard offered her a two-year contract to paint portraits of his family, which included a portrait of Madam Boucard that presented her as a Renaissance courtesan and figure of power with a brutal allure.

This brutal allure, together with the dark and dubious glamour that her portraits sometimes exuded, allied her to the ‘call to order’ movement of fascism that was sweeping across central Europe. In the face of the Avant Garde, fascism pursued a return to monumental realism in European art and Lempicka’s painting of the Duchesse de la Salle sat well with this authoritarian discipline. Dressed in jackboots and one hand in her pocket, the Duchess has an attitude of menace and theatricality that makes it one of her best paintings during an era of incredible upheaval.

In the years following World War II, Lempicka’s popularity waned, and she moved to the States. Her work enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the late 20th century and was given a new platform by celebrity collectors, including Jack Nicholson, Barbra Streisand, and Madonna. The pop icon shares more than a few passing qualities of Lempicka and acquired several of her paintings, which have even in her music videos for Open Your Heart (1987), Express Yourself (1989), and Vogue (1990). 

This popularity has also been reflected at auction, as in November 2019, Lempicka’s La Tunique rose (1927) sold for $13.4 million at Sotheby’s, before her Portrait of Marjorie Ferry (1932) set a record for a Lempicka portrait when the hammer fell at £16.3 million ($21.2 million) at Christie’s in February 2020, having previously sold for $4,898,500 in May 2009.

Indomitable Spirit 

Encapsulating the Roaring Twenties, Tamara de Lempicka’s polished Art Deco paintings of aristocrats and highly stylized women blended classical techniques with bold modernity to make her a timeless figure in modern art history. Celebrated as a defining champion of Art Deco, Lempicka’s art stands as tall as her larger-than-life character in a male-dominated world. 

Fusing a soft cubism with a lavish decorative quality, her blend of classical techniques with bold modernity ensure she still commands popular attention. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco hosted the first major US retrospective of her work from October 2024 to February 2025, while Sotheby’s hosted The World of Tamara: A Celebration of Lempicka and Art Deco selling exhibition dedicated to her pioneering painting. 

Glossy with a bold, sexual confidence, and a cinematic allure, her portraits continue to captivate, securing her status as one of the most distinctive artists of the 20th century. More than that though, her vision of modern femininity and sophistication remains as relevant today as it was 100 years ago. Madonna’s aping of the jazz-age femme fatale’s image is testament to this. Forging her own path in her own image, Lempicka blended tradition and innovation with beauty and power to create art that not only defied convention, but serves as a lasting testament to the enduring appeal of Art Deco and the indomitable spirit of the modern woman. “There are no miracles, there is only what you make.”