Polish (1898 – 1980) 

 

Tamara De Lempicka was born in 1898 in Warsaw, which was then part of the Russian Empire. Born into a wealthy family, Maria Gorska as she was named by her parents, was educated at a boarding school in Switzerland.

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In the summer of 1911, she travelled to Italy with her grandmother and she was there introduced to the masterful works of the great Italian painters of the Renaissance and this sparked in her an appreciation and love for art that would stay with her throughout her life.

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Lempicka very much saw herself as one of the elite, famous and successful. Her choices of successful spouses and the celebrity portraits she painted showed her role in the glamour of the age and even after the roaring 20s. 

In fact, even to this day she is well known in art collector circles and the distinctive artworks of ‘The Baroness with a brush’ hold a firm place in the art market.