Born Maria Górska, Tamara de Lempicka was a Polish painter active in the 1920s and '30s who spent her life working in France and the United States. She is best known for her Art Deco portraits of socialites and her stylized nudes.
She was an active participant in the artistic and social life of Paris between the wars. In 1928, she became the mistress of Baron Raoul Kuffner, a wealthy art collector from the former Astro-Hungarian Empire. After the death of his wife in 1933, the Baron married Lempicka in 1934, and thereafter she became known in the press as "The Baroness with a Brush."
Lempicka was famously bi. In the 1920s, she became closely associated with lesbian and bi women in writing and artistic circles, among them Vita Sackville-West and Colette. She was also involved with nightclub singer and model, Suzy Solidor.