My birth name is Maria Górska. I was born on May 16, 1898 in Warsaw, Poland. I changed my name to Tamara de Lempicka when I fled to Paris. In 1918, I studied painting at the Academe de la Grand Chaumiere and was also privately tutored by Maurice Denis. My first art show was displayed at an Art Deco exhibition in 1925 in Paris under the sponsorship of Count Emmanuele Castelbarco; and that is where I quickly became regarded as one of the most fashionable Art Deco portrait painters of my generation. Many of my paintings were of duchesses and grand dukes and socialites. Through my network of friends, I was able to display my paintings in many famous museums and exhibitions. In 1960, I changed my painting style to abstract art and began creating works with a spatula. After my second husband died in 1962, I ceased painting and moved to Mexico.
