Welcome to ‘Tamara Łempicka – a woman on a journey’, an exhibition that takes us on a journey into the world of the 1920s and 1930s, a time of huge social and cultural changes and Art Deco – a new elite style in art, that captivated with its artistry, elegance and good taste. The work of Tamara Łempicka is inextricably linked with her life, and it is presented here alongside everyday objects from the period – furniture, handicrafts and clothes. Together, they will bring you closer to the extraordinary life of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. Our exhibition will reveal the secret of her phenomenal success. So, let’s set out on a fascinating journey with Tamara Łempicka into the world of art and beyond.

Tamara Łempicka’s life reads like a movie script. She was probably born in Warsaw, though other sources point to Moscow, into a rich and influential Polish-Russian family with Jewish roots. She spent her childhood in Moscow, in the loving care of her mother and grandparents. Around 1912, when she was a young girl, she moved to live with her relatives in Saint Petersburg. Stefania and Maurycy Stifter led a rich social life full of parties, balls and frequent visits to the theatre and opera. Tamara grew up as a teenager in this atmosphere, not noticing the dramatic changes in her surroundings and the socio-political situation. During one balls, Tamara caught the attention of a young lawyer – Tadeusz Łempicki, whom she married in 1916. This carefree period was ended forever by the Bolshevik Revolution. Tadeusz Łempicki was arrested by the Petrograd Chekists for being a counter-revolutionary. In order to get her husband out of the prison and to escape from Russia, Tamara contacted the Swedish consul, who was a friend. The price for the diplomat’s help though was to spend a night with Tamara, thanks to which she obtained false documents that allowed her to escape to Finland and then to her family in Copenhagen. Tadeusz joined Tamara a few weeks later. In 1918, they stayed in Warsaw for a short while and afterwards they moved to Paris – the city that became their home.

The art scene of Paris of the 1920s, which Tamara Łempicka stepped into, was a world of Cubist, geometrized forms by contemporary artists such as Alexander Archipenko, Henryk Hayden and Jean Lambert-Rucki. Tamara followed keenly the trends of avant-garde painters. In her own work, she exposed bodies and sensuality, using simplification and deformation. She was searching for her own artistic language, and in her portrayals of people she used careful curved lines and regular solids.

Mother and Child is a painting from the early period of Łempicka’s career, made around 1922. It is a representation of motherhood and also a secular version of the Madonna and Child. As you can see, it features austere geometric forms with characteristic hatching in the blues, browns and yellows. The painting has a bold style and features references to the creative explorations of the Polish Formist group, whose works we can see on the opposite wall.

André Lhote had a huge impact on the young Łempicka. She considered him her only mentor. For many art students coming to Paris, Lhote, with his humanistic vision of Cubism, was more than just a teacher. He was a bridge between classicism and modernism. Lhote taught how contemporary art can assimilate the techniques and compositional methods developed by the old masters.

In our exhibition, you can see Catherine Lucie Lotte portrayed by Lhote. She was known as Mousse, the wife of French painter Roger Bissière.

The beginning of the 20th century saw the development of a new style in architecture, painting, graphic art and interior design, known later as Art Deco. Its name derives from the French words “art” and “decoratife”. It was during the Art Deco era that more modern design emerged that kept in mind the function and influence of an object on person’s physical and social surroundings. Art Deco was characterised by a classical geometricforms, a striving for synthetic portrayals of forms, a search for beauty in the function of an object and a clear message in a graphic or painting.
In this process, an important role was played by the artist as a decorator. Architect cooperated with interior designers, and together they decided about the smallest details, trying to create a complete work. The shape of buildings, interiors, decorations and even everyday objects were stylistically unified and adapted to a function. Everyday objects were given geometric forms and the vivid colouring of clean, boldly juxtaposed colours, making them small works of art. They were mass-produced for average people to use every day. Regardless of the cost of materials, the workmanship and the amount of work put into the creation of an object, the priorities were the harmony of form and functionality.

During the interwar period in Poland several companies produced porcelain, trying to adapt patterns to changing styles and customer tastes.
In our exhibition, they are represented by objects produced in Ćmielów, which quickly gained popularity.
Pay attention in the case to the Kula dinner service and the flagship Płaski dinner service with its Cubist decoration.
The most fashionable sets designed by Bogdan Wendorf were described in the following way: “skilful hands of Polish artists created these beautiful shapes, satisfying the most refined tastes, combining the beautiful with the useful”.

Łempicka was interested in still life throughout her whole career. In a special way, she showed her inspiration through tradition and old motifs. Her interest in old art was influenced by the education she had received in Paris in the studio of her mentor André Lhote, who emphasised the importance of traditional techniques in a modern formula.

The still life by Lhote on display at exhibition is an example of showing mundane objects in careful arrangements. It allowed an in-depth study of shapes, textures, lights and shadows. The picture also contained a moral message about the passage of time and the transience of things.

Let’s look at Bowl of Fruit or Fruit on a Black Background. This still life painted by Łempicka is an example of the Polish artist’s mastery of artistic technique. The fruit in a porcelain vase are in fact a display of precision and the technical abilities of an experienced artist. Using the dark background, which was quite unusual for Łempicka, not only added drama to the painting but also enriched it with historical connotations. Standing in front of the painting, the viewer has the impression of looking at a painting , for example, by Caravaggio. This illusion is dispelled by a painted piece of paper in the lower left corner with Łempicka’s signature. She used this way of signing her paintings in a series of compositions that use trompe-l’œil, a three-dimensional effect on a two-dimensional canvas, creating the illusion of reality.

Let’s move to the graphic showing Tamara’s 1929 self-portrait.
The original work was commissioned and published on the cover of Die Dame [read as German words], a magazine aimed at modern women. This image became the most often reproduced work by Łempicka. Tamara and the automobile, shown in a tight frame, seem to melt together, forming a single organism. In her work, Łempicka made reference to Futurism, which was characterised by a fascination with speed, technology and urban life. The self-portrait of the woman-machine became an icon of the Art Deco era, showing a car as a tool of the emancipation of women. The legendary green Bugatti was, in fact, an act of artistic creation. In reality, Tamara owned a bright yellow Renault, to which she matched her clothes: “I always dressed like the car and the car like me”, she used to say. In 1978, the New York Times called Tamara “the steel-eyed goddess of the automobile era”.

Portrait of a Young Girl in a Green Dress is one of Łempicka’s most famous paintings. The figure of the model is extensively stylised. Her regular facial features and the monumental depiction of her figure are reminiscent of ancient Greek sculptures.
The green dress that clings to the body accentuates every curve of the female form. The artist created her figures from solid forms, creating the illusion that they were made from stone or steel. Tamara’s work is also characterized by bright, intense colours.

The perfect body proportions and golden hair swirling like metal ribbons perfectly illustrate the modern and confident woman of the 1920s. A mannequin-like woman stares out from the painting – a reflection of Fernand Léger’s idea of combining the classical and the mechanical ideal.

The person looking at us from the picture is Tamara smoking a cigarrete, in a carefully chosen costume, perfectly styled hair and expressive makeup. Distinguished, calm, controlling every studied gesture, she fascinates and arouses admiration. She is the star of the French stages of the Annees Folles epoque, the era of jazz and liberation, the era of the modern city with its lights, neon signs and advertising. The day melts into the night and the café life is as absorbing and addictive as the omnipresent stimulants. The days were too short, but the nights belonged to Tamara. Meetings with artists and art dealers in the famous Café du Dôme and La Couple and long and stormy disputes about art led to all-night painting sessions with newly met objects of desire.

The golden decade of the 1920s was coming to an end – interrupted by the depression caused by the crash of the New York Stock Exchange. This period is symbolised by the painting by Moise Kisling depicting several people in front of one of the most important cafes of Montparnasse.
Kisling returns to the heroic times of World War I, the mythical era when artistic pioneers paved the way in the 14th Arrondissement. The drawing refers to Jean Cocteau’s famous photographs from 1916 that captured the artistic elite of Montparnasse. The two figures from the right are: Emilienne Pâquerette, a model working for Paul Poiret, and Pablo Picasso himself.

The image Atelier by Łempicka shows the Paris of the early 1920s, the city that became home not only to the artist, but also to many aristocratic families who were forced to live in “distinguished poverty”, far from the lost world of luxury and privilege to which they had become accustomed.
Tamara sold her emerald ring, so that her and Tadeusz could rent a modest room without a bathroom in a small hotel in Paris for a few months. Their difficult living situation prompted Tamara to take decisive steps to improve their conditions . For the rest of her life, she said that “it was then, out of a need to be financially independent that she was born as a painter”. During this period, she made the decision to find a new home, suitable for an artist. They soon moved to a three-room apartment in Montparnasse.

In this picture we can see Łempicka in her studio on Rue Mechain in Paris. In the 1920s, artists’ studios became a subject of interest to the general public, signalling modernity, social status and recognition. Up to then, they were considered a private zone, but at that time they started to arouse keen interest in interior decoration and design magazines. Artists’ studios were featured on posters, magazines and films and were made available to the public, all of which altered their perception in society . Aware of these changes, Łempicka willingly used the studio on 7 rue Méchain she had rented in 1930 to promote her image and her work. Designed by Robert Mallet-Stevens, the two-story modernist apartment served as a studio, art salon, gallery, apartment and meeting place.

The portrait of Jan and Joel Martel by Tamara Łempicka brings us to Paris’s 16th Arrondissement, where the much admired studio of the Martel twin brothers was located. It was a perfect example of a modernist, functional space for a modern artist.
On the ground floor was a spacious sculptural studio, where monumental sculptures could be created and displayed. Numerous meetings, conferences, exhibitions, as well as recitals and dances were held there. The twins’ studio was the meeting place that brought together progressive architects, painters, sculptors and designers under the leadership of Mallet-Stevens. The guests included, Łempicka’s sister Adrienne Gorska and her husband Pierre de Montaut, both of whom were architects.

Jan and Joël Martel created most of their works together, signing them J. J. Martel. The rhythmic sculptures, created in the spirit of Art Deco, showed a taste for music and dance, and attracted the artistic crème de la crème of Paris, including Łempicka, to their studio. Evidence of Łempicka’s friendship with the sculptural duo is her drawing from 1931.
Previously viewed as double portrait of an unknown man, it undoubtedly shows two sculptors with slightly different profiles.

At the end of the 1920s, Łempicka started a relationship with Baron Kuffner, whom she married in 1934. Kuffner had commissioned a portrait of his then-lover, Andalusian dancer Nana de Herrera, from Łempicka. The artist recalled later: “I told Kuffner that I had heard of his friend and that she must be very beautiful as she is a dancer (…). So, I was surprised when she showed up in my studio dressed badly, inelegantly, she had no style. I thought, oh no, I don’t want to pain her. I can’t believe that this is the famous Nana de Herrera”.
The twisted figure of Herrera in Łempicka’s painting shows not only the artists’ virtuosity, but also her clear dislike of the model and rival.

The Portait of Tadeusz Łempicki from 1928 depicts Tamara’s ex-husband. The conscious leaving of his hand unpainted is connected with her critical attitude towards Tadeusz, who did not keep the vows he took years before and did not handle well the new circumstances in which their family found itself.

After coming to Paris, she artist quickly adapted to the newly-liberated Paris of the 1920s. Forced to support her family, her relationship with her depressed husband soured as she soon became one of the most popular artists of her era.

Tamara’s growing popularity and her passion for nightlife damaged their relationship. Tadeusz accused Tamara of numerous love affairs and of neglecting her duties as a wife and mother. This led to the break-up of their marriage in 1927, when after a short stay in Poland Tadeusz admitted to her that he was having an affair with Irena Spiess. Tamara, unable to come to terms with the loss of Tadeusz and made fruitless attempts to win her husband back. Tadeusz’s firm stance and his rejection of Tamara devastated her and she fell into despair. Wanting to regain control of her life, Tamara went into a creative fever. The portrait of Tadeusz on display here was made during this period.

Let’s move to Łempicka’s studio on rue Mechain in Paris.
The walnut furniture designed by Adrienne Gorska – Tamara’s sister – sat in the evening part of Łempicka’s multifunctional studio. Located on the mezzanine, constituting an open room with a lengthwise chrome balustrade, it resembled a cabin on a luxury liner. After ascending the stairs, guests were greeted by a semi-elliptical wooden bar with a chrome-plated metal trim and three stools. Further on, the room transitioned into a library and a seating area with a couch, bench and armchairs. The interior of Łempicka’s studio highlighted her interests, the character of the era and was a meeting place for artists of the day.

The portrait gallery illustrates Łempicka’s main interests. Her painting had an exceptionally human character. The central place in her work was occupied by the human figure, to which she devoted the majority of space. The human figure and carnality were the starting point of her creativity.
From the mid-1920s, Łempicka started to be seen as the one of the most significant portraitists of Montparnasse – successfully competing with Kees van Dongen and Moïse Kisling. Her position as a painter, which became established over time, enabled her to be selective in her approach towards portrait commissions and she accepted only those that corresponded to her strictly defined concept of art. The cross-section of characters in her portraits was astounding. With equal success, she painted children as well as old people. Social class was of no importance. Influential and wealthy figures of Parisian society posed in front of her easel, as well as family members, ordinary people and even people she met by accident. She looked for inspiration and a certain kind of creative vibrancy in all her models.

Kizette on a Balcony from 1927 was the first canvas that Łempicka’s received a prize for – the grand prix at the Exposition Internationale des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux. Tamara’s eleven-year-old daughter posed for her mother on a balcony wearing a short, simple dress, white knee-socks and black slippers. The city in the background, with its irregular, sharp, Cubist forms, seems dangerous, but Kizette is separated from it by a railing and is wrapped in softly draped fabric, suspended between the safety of home and the dangers of the outside world. The bold pose and mature look of the young model show her blossoming femininity and awakening eroticism. The award encouraged Łempicka to do more portraits of her daughter, for whom it was a chance to spend time with the ever-busy Chérie, as she used to call Tamara.

First Communion is the next portrayal of Łempicka’s daughter Kizette.
In 1929, Łempicka was invited to take part in the Polish General Exhibition held in Poznań to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Poland regaining its independence.
First Communion was one of the paintings she displayed and she received a bronze medal for it. Although 33 artists received the same award, for Łempicka the prize won in Poland was of great importance for the rest of her life. She often bragged about the medal to others.
In First Communion, Tamara skilfully reproduced the thick layers of the veil around the body, from which the face of her daughter emerges. The vast white drapery clearly refers to the work of Italian mannerists that inspired artists in 1928-1930.

Mother Superior from 1935 moves us to the 1930s, when Tamara, although having achieved stability, fell increasingly into depression due to people’s lack of interest in her new paintings.
A trip to Italy turned out to be the salvation for her. It was during a journey to find peace of mind that Tamara decided to leave her former life and join a religious order near Parma. However, the monastic life was not for her – during a visit to the mother superior, Tamara regained the will to continue working. Years later, this is how he remembered the visit: “The suffering of the whole world was reflected on her face; it was so scary, so sad, I left the place immediately. I forgot why I even went there. I just knew I had to immediately grab a brush and canvas to paint her, to paint her face”.
This is how her painting Mother Superior came about. However, she did not show it until 1939, when it was displayed in the United States. Łempicka considered this painting to be the best of her career, and since she did not receive the expected amount for it, she donated it to the Fine Arts Museum of Nantes.

The portrait of Gino Puglisi depicts the Italian architect, who was a friend and collector of Łempicka’s paintings. In 1933, he acquired his first painting by Tamara, and by his death in 1992, he had accumulated as many as twenty. In her memoirs, Kizette suggests that the pair had a brief affair. Their later friendship is evidenced not only by four portraits of Puglisi made between 1934 and 1963, but also by their long correspondence, which lasted, with short breaks, until the artist’s death in 1980.

Gallery of Inspired Portraits represents a period in Łempicka’s life when she moved away from portraits of the social elite that emphasised the glitz, glamour and their position.
Along with a series of still lifes that reflected her search for simplicity and stability, she started to paint ordinary people. In these portraits, Tamara moved away from external beauty towards the depth of the emotional experiences of the people she portrayed.
“I wanted to paint an old man. It was a very strong desire. He used to come to my studio… And one day he took from his pocket a yellowed newspaper clipping that had been folded and unfolded a hundred times. He handed it to me, saying, »I wasn’t always the way you see me today«”.
The clipping was about Rodin’s Lovers, it listed the names of the models. “I am that man” – he said.

Young Man with a Book is a small painting, which in the 1950s Łempicka gave to Ira Perrot – the heroine of many portraits and paintings by Tamara Łempicka. The two women had a long and intimate relationship. Łempicka , who after World War II lived permanently in the United States, often visited Europe and met with her former partner.
Although Łempicka often made references to classical art in her work, she rarely did so in such a straightforward and direct manner as in the image on display here. The Polish artist was undoubtedly impressed by the works by Sandro Botticelli and Rafael Santi and the model of Renaissance portraiture they developed. This is expressed in Łempicka’s Young Man portrait, which at the same time praises the Renaissance in its intellectual, humanistic and courtly splendour.

Alice Ernestine Prin, known as Kiki de Montparnasse, was one of the most interesting models of the époque. Her images can be found in the paintings of many artists. Besides posing, Kiki often performed in the clubs of Montparnasse. She became an icon of the roaring twenties. The earliest portraits of Kiki were made by her lover, Maurycy Mędrzycki, a painter from Łódź, known in Paris as Maurice Mendjizky. The melancholic post-impressionist portraits show her with a “tomboy” hairstyle typical for the period. After her split with Mędrzycki, Kiki’s image was made famous by her next partner, Man Ray, an American photographer who took both avant-garde photographs and made short films that featured Kiki.

The Art Deco era is connected with luxury, lavishness, quality of workmanship and perfectly chosen materials. These characteristics can be found in the furniture by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann presented on this part of the exhibition. He was a French designer and internal decorator, who achieved great success at the Paris Exhibition in 1925. His furniture, made from the highest-quality exotic wood, with the addition of precious metals and encrusted with ivory, won the hearts of customers from all over the world. Despite horrendous prices, customers, reborn after the First World War, were prepared to pay monstrous sums to own luxury items. The ebony dressing table is a good example. On the top, you can see a contrasting light burled veneer surrounded by bone panels that the artist often used in his designs. The revolving mirror, decorated with silver, which is attached to the tabletop, is a homage to the furniture of the 18th and 19th centuries, which often inspired Émila-Jacques Ruhlmann. However, he simplified the details, so that the quality showed itself in the nobility of the materials.

The area entitled In the sun of the South – La Dolce Vita moves us to Italy, the biggest love and inspiration of Tamara Łempicka.
In her work, Łempicka above all appreciated pure colour, precise drawing and play of light, which together brought out the beauty of the figures she recorded on canvas. Her sensitivity to art was undeniably formed due to her grandmother Klementyna Dekler, who in 1907 took her on a long journey from Moscow to Florence, Rome and Venice. During the hours spent in museums, the young girl listened to her grandmother’s stories, from which she learned about the art of the Italian masters.
Undoubtedly, this love for Italy and Renaissance painting had a significant impact on Łempicka’s later work. The artist’s fondness for the pleasures of night life, known to everyone, was second only to her love for contemplating and studying the art of Italian painting. “As soon as my mother sold a painting, she immediately spent the money on traveling to Italy” – Tamara’s daughter, Kizette, recalled. During her visits to Florence, Rome, Milan and Venice Łempicka felt trully free – loosening the corset of Parisian pretences.

Tamara returned to Venice on many occasions. In the 1960s, experimenting with new techniques, she started to paint using a spatula. Her fondness for the Impressionists can be seen in her works from this period. The paintings with a monochromatic colour palette revealed Łempicka’s sensitivity to sudden changes of light and appearing and disappearing flashes on water, the drama of which she tried to capture.

The portrait of Tamara Łempicka in an oriental dress shows us the next inspiration of the artist.
In the 1930s, the main destination for artists was southern Italy, but the journeys often led further. At that time, tourists were discovering the attractiveness of the European colonies – Libya, Algeria and Morocco, which could be reached by regular flights from Rome and Paris, good roads and a network of luxury hotels.
Łempickac visited Africa and the Middle East. She admired the exoticism of those places and was fascinated by the culture. Her work from that period shows various representations depicting oriental characters, portraits and costumes. They are characterised by delicacy, subtlety and charm. The Orient was a source of inspiration which allowed her to create decorative forms.

Although the painting Orange Turban had previously been dated to 1935, new research suggests that Łempicka painted it a decade later. The theme of a woman in an orange turban was significant for the artist and she often returned to it. Currently, nine versions of this composition are known. The painting was created during Łempicka’s fascination with 17th-century Dutch painting. Understandably, the artist used a portrait of a model gazing at the viewer en trois quarts – similarly to the Mona Lisa of the North – the Girl with Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer.

In the first half of the 20th century, travel both to the sources of European civilisation and to exotic countries became fashionable among the Europeans. Morocco, then a French protectorate, was a popular destinations. In 1922, with European tourists in mind, the historic palace in Marrakesh was transformed into the luxury hotel la Mamaounia. Its rich interiors were designed to combine modern style with exotic detail. Interior design in European tastes, with modern, Cubist forms, was intended to make travellers feel at home in the heart of Morocco but were also a promise of an exciting adventure. This idea was echoed by André Paccard, who designed furniture in the 1970s with Moroccan motifs combined with geometric forms in the spirit of Art Deco.

The area ‘In a straight line – by boat across the ocean’ concentrates on the American period in the artist’s life. It opens with Studies for Portraits of Mrs and Mr Bush.
One day, when Tamara was getting ready to go out for the evening, the phone rang in her Paris apartment. A person with a strong English accent asked her to meet immediately. It turned out to be a young American millionaire, Rufus Bush. They met just over ten minutes later, and Bush asked Tamara to paint a portrait of his fiancée. She agreed.
In September 1929, she boarded the “Paris” ocean liner and set out to conquer the new world. She had a positive attitude towards America – thanks to American music, literature, people from the world of culture she had met, and, above all, money, which had been flowing into Paris during the previous decade. She saw the USA as a synonym of modernity and a source of new opportunities. During the first few months of her stay, she painted the portrait of Mrs Bush, one of the most interesting female portraits in the artist’s career. (In the exhibition we can see a sketch of the painting). Thanks to the Bushes’ connections, she immediately entered a whirl of parties among the financial and cultural elite of New York. She was overwhelmed by the wealth, pace and lifestyle of the Americans, their effectiveness, and the strange confusion of work and entertainment.

Łempicka’s painting Escape or Somewhere in Europe is a reflection of the deteriorating political situation in Europe. From 1938, Tamara and her husband baron Kuffner prepared to leave the Old Continent.
The couple decided to live in the USA, but kept their decision to flee a secret due to the relocation of assets that, as emigrants, they could not take.
Shortly before leaving Europe, Tamara began to paint Escape, reflecting her fears of war and another journey into the unknown. The gloomy ochres, heavy greens and blues dominating the canvas reflect the mood of the artist who was afraid of losing the position she had achieved in France.

The huge 160-metre-long ocean ships MS Piłsudski and MS Batory were built in Italy in the first half of the 1930s according to an Italian design. The interiors and furniture were the work of Polish designers and artists.
The Józef Fraget Factory of Silver and Plated Products in Warsaw received an order to manufacture tableware for the luxury liners. Professor Lech Niemojewski was responsible for the design of the set shown in the exhibition.
Most items from the MS Piłsudski and MS Batory have the logo of the shipping company GAL Gdynia-America Shipping Lines INC, engraved on the pieces that make up the set.

Woman with a Mandolin is one of the best known and widely distributed images from Łempicka’s work, reproduced in many magazines, including the cover of the widely read magazine “Die Dame” from 1930. The graphic created using the aquatint technique was created in 1933 based on an oil painting from 1929. It depicts Ira Perrot, Łempicka’s friend and lover, who had posed for her since 1922.

It was in the Woman with Mandolin that Łempicka decided to depict skyscrapers in the background for the first time in a tribute to the modern metropolis New York.

Tamara Łempicka, already as a mature artist, arrived in New York independently of the great wave of European emigration. She began a new life there, carefully shaping a model of fulfilment, success, affluence, but also heightened spirituality, looking for lasting patterns and sublime themes in her work. However, she continued a vigilant and insightful observation of changes in art.

She also developed a language of pure abstraction. In the 1950s, she created a varied dialogue with the abstract painting tradition, using complex arrangements of permeating ribbons, colourful stripes, and geometric forms arranged in variety of patterns. Abstract Composition in Orange from 1960 is an exemplification of this style.

Emigration to the United States brought disappointment to Łempicka, as there she wasn’t as famous as in Europe. She was rarely mentioned in the press, what irritated her. During this time, she lived in Houston and Mexico, eventually settling in Cuernavaca, a town nestled beneath a volcano.
For artists, politicians and wealthy resort visitors, Łempicka’s eccentricity seemed nothing out of the ordinary. Although critics liked the change in style, the buying public did not appreciate it, which led the frustrated Łempicka to limit her circle of friends.
For Tamara, Mexico was a paradise retreat, but was also the place of the last, increasingly bitter experiences of the aging artist, who constantly demanded attention and admiration for all her achievements. Until the end, she tried to influence her image in biographies and articles.
Tamara Łempicka died on 18 March 1980. In accordance with her wishes, her closest friend, maestro Contreras scattered her ashes from a helicopter over the active Popocatépetl volcano. After her death, Łempicka’s fame grew, like the legend of her colourful life, making it impossible to separate the facts from the legend she created around herself.