Decadent and iconic

Born in Poland, then brought up in Moscow, Tamara de Lempicka fled to Paris under the threat of the Bolshevik Revolution, where she took up painting.

While she admired the Old Masters, she was taught by a Cubist and elements of both combine in her unique, instantly recognisable style. Leading a life as colourful as her art, she was soon painting portraits of the super-rich, super-chic elite, perfectly capturing the decadence of Twenties and Thirties Paris.

This is the first major exhibition of her work in the UK, and it brings together a clutch of iconic pictures, many never before seen in public.

Sat 15 May-Mon 30 Aug, Royal Academy Of Arts, Piccadilly, W1 (0870 848 8484).