The Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka (1894-1980) was a defining figure of Art Deco: an aesthetic movement of the early 20th century that fused modernist geometry with excitement and glamour to capture a new faith in progress. Her paintings frequently convey unapologetic female autonomy and desire amid the Jazz Age. In this instalment of the YouTube series Great Art Explained, the curator and video essayist James Payne and the art historian Laura Beardsell-Moore explore how Lempicka’s life and times shaped her work – from her affluent upbringing and flight from the Russian Revolution to her experience in 1920s Paris. In particular, they dissect how her most famous painting, Autoportrait (Tamara in the Green Bugatti) (1929), depicted nothing less than a new, deeply modern conception of womanhood.

26 October 2026

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