In 1925, Lempicka took up residence at 5 rue Guy de Maupassant in Paris (16e arrondissement). Her decor for this studio-apartment was imbued with a certain dramatic effect.
A photograph by Jacques-Henri Lartigue gives us one view of the bedroom (see "Jacques-Henri LARTIGUE"), where, under the painting "Portrait of the Duchess of La Salle" (B.72), the carved lacquer bed decor - based on a sketch by Lempicka of a sapphic scene - boldly strikes the eye. A closet and stool (not to be seen in this photo) existed in the same carved lacquer scheme. The furniture has since disappeared.

Tamara and Tadeusz were divorced (against the artist's wishes) and the portrait she had begun to paint of her husband (cat.38) was never finished. She made the acquaintance of Dr Pierre Boucard, who commissioned several portraits. Working increasingly hard, she began to enjoy financial success, spending long periods in Cannes.

Second only to Baron Kuffner, the physician Pierre Boucard - inventor of the famous "Lactéol" pill - was an enthusiastic collector of Lempicka's works. He was, moreover, a friend of the photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue as well, often appearing in the latter's photos of various joyous occasions at the French coastal resort of Deauville.
In addition to his own portrait, his wife's, and his daughter's, this avid collector also owned "The Slave" (B.119), and "Myrto" (B.118), although the latter fell victim to a German pillager at the war's end (as noted by Lempicka in her album).

A photographer who chronicled happiness and the carefree life: his casual and witty snapshots have been the subject of numerous publications. Lartigue's portrait of the physician Pierre Boucard at his microscope may have served as inspiration to Lempicka. Lartigue also did several portraits of the lovely Arlette Boucard, his friend's daughter.

Born in Athens in 1887, with Marika as her first name, the duchess owes her title to her marriage, in 1905, to Duke de la Salle de Rochemaure. This marriage was not to the liking of the family and thus ended in divorce, earning the duchess a sizeable alimony.
Done up tightly in her riding attire, smoking a pipe or a cigar, the duchess - who continued to pride herself over her title - was most lavish with her newfound fortune, much of which she allotted to several artists encountered on social occasions (such as the English woman artist Marlow Moss). By the thirties, once her source of income had run dry, she withdrew, with her daughter Romana, to an Alpine village where she lived the simple life until her death in 1973.
As can be seen in the panoramic view by Jacques-Henri Lartigue (see "Jacques-Henri LARTIGUE"), the large portrait of the duchess in her riding boots hung to the right of the bed in Lempicka's bedroom in her flat on rue Guy de Maupassant.

These were the years of Lempicka's greatest success. The museum of Nantes acquired her "Kizette in Pink" (B.81), and a number of rich collectors commissioned portraits - their own, of course, but also that of a wife and daughter for one, or of a mistress, for the other. At the peak of her talent, Lempicka was able to make the most of her feminine models, enhancing their charms with signs of the new spirit of the times. She thus imbued them with elegance and supreme nonchalance, sensuality and throbbing vitality. The portraits - and even the still lifes - belonging to this period convey contagious optimism in a triumphantly youthful and modernist vein. Success lent Lempicka wings, encouraging her to work and exhibit tirelessly. By now, she had found a certain signature style: a highly original, and effective, synthesis of Mannerism and toned down Neo-Cubism. This style was so well matched to the era that, in retrospect, it can be termed as emblematic of it.