Tamara de Lempicka’s paintings are the visual shorthand for Art Deco glamour: cool, polished surfaces, sculptural bodies modelled like chrome, angular drapery and architectural backdrops that feel as engineered as a skyscraper. She fused the geometry of Cubism with the refinement of old-master classicism, so her figures appear both modern and timeless, at once cinematic and statuesque. That blend is precisely why a single glance at a Lempicka is usually enough to know it is her.
In interwar Paris she became the portraitist of a smart international set, and she framed them as icons of the new age: independent, urbane, unapologetically sensual. The same sensibility runs through her nudes, which read less like academic exercises and more like declarations of modern womanhood. Her imagery keeps resurfacing in popular culture, from museum blockbusters to a recent Broadway musical that leans into her kinetic Deco aesthetic.
If there is one picture that captures her self-mythology, it is the 1929 self-portrait in a green roadster. If there is a single hallmark across the rest, it is the way she lights skin and cloth like metal, turning sitters into streamlined emblems of speed and style. Recent museum attention, including a major U.S. retrospective travelling from San Francisco to Houston, has helped recast Lempicka not as a period taste but as a pivotal interpreter of the modern body.
That curatorial focus aligns with a strong auction market. The step-change in pricing was visible before 2020, when La Musicienne brought just over $9 million in 2018, and La Tunique rose reached about $13.4 million in 2019. The current auction record came on 5 February 2020, when Portrait de Marjorie Ferry sold in London for £16.38 million, placing Lempicka firmly among the most sought-after interwar figurative painters.
Momentum has stayed healthy in 2025. In March, Christie’s London sold Portrait du Docteur Boucard for about £6.64 million, a robust result for a single-figure portrait outside the very top tier. In June, Sotheby’s London offered La Belle Rafaëla, a key reclining nude of her lover Rafaëla, which achieved about £7.47 million. These results suggest consistent depth of demand for high-quality canvases from roughly 1925 to 1935, even while the wider market remains selective.
What sells best has been remarkably consistent. Top prices cluster around iconic subjects from the late 1920s and early 1930s: refined society portraits and confidently sensual nudes, painted with that metallic modelling and theatrical light. Works on paper, later figurative pictures from the 1940s, and the post-war abstractions trade at lower levels and are more sensitive to estimate discipline, condition and provenance.
Exhibitions and cultural visibility help. Reviews of the de Young and MFAH retrospective emphasise her technical rigour and the deliberate construction of a modern persona, which supports long-term collector confidence. The pop-cultural afterlife, from Madonna’s championing to a Broadway retelling, keeps her look recognisable beyond the art world, which rarely hurts demand for the best pictures.
Where does this leave things now? The record still stands with Marjorie Ferry at £16.38 million on 5 February 2020, and 2025 has delivered multiple seven-figure results in London. Supply is tightly held and the very best works sit in a narrow window from the late 1920s to early 1930s. Pricing will remain stratified. Masterpieces continue to command aggressive bidding, while later or lesser works need conservative estimates and clear documentation to outperform. For advisers and collectors, the practical takeaway is to focus on prime-period, well-documented oils, and to expect competition when a major portrait or nude appears.
References:
de Young Museum: “Tamara de Lempicka” exhibition
MFAH: “Tamara de Lempicka” exhibition
MFAH press release: exhibition extended to 6 July 2025
FAMSF press room: de Young exhibition announcement and dates
Christie’s lot page: La Musicienne, 11 Nov 2018
Christie’s story: 2020 in numbers, Marjorie Ferry record
Christie’s story: Portrait du Docteur Boucard, sold 5 Mar 2025
Sotheby’s lot page: La Belle Rafaëla, 24 Jun 2025
HENI news: La Belle Rafaëla sells for $10.15m (£7.47m)
HENI news: Marjorie Ferry sets the auction record
Official Broadway site: Lempicka musical, closed 19 May 2024