Sometimes artists become more known among the general public for their colorful personal lives than for their artwork, no matter how great their contributions to the art world. Such is the case with Polish/American artist Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980), requested by reader Lauren. Some highlights from her storied life:

1. Tamara de Lempicka, who was born Maria Gorska, discovered her artistic passion and skill at the age of 12. Lempicka had sat for a famous painter, but hated the resulting portrait, believing she could do a better job. Thus she created her first painting ever, a portrait of her younger sister Adrienne, with which she was extremely pleased.

2. Only 14 when she met Taduesz Lempicki, she became determined to marry him. When she was still just 17 years old, she married the “modestly well-off lawyer” with a dowry provided by her “millionaire banker uncle.” (She hadn’t lived with her parents since they divorced while she was a child.)

3. Although she is considered the most famous Art Deco painter, Lempicka is more famous for her libido than for her art. She was bisexual, carrying on scandalous affairs with both men and women (often her patrons and models). Yet the exact details are somewhat unclear, since she “shuffled the facts of her biography as much as she meddled with her birth date”… and she meddled with her birth date quite a bit, even going so far as to occasionally try to pass her daughter off as her sister.

4. Lempicka lived a life of luxury from childhood. Not only was she born into a wealthy family, her second husband was a wealthy Hungarian baron, Baron Kuffner, who had been her patron and lover. Although she initially lost money in 1929 when her bank collapsed, she survived the Great Depression relatively unaffected, painting the portraits of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Queen Elizabeth of Greece during that time. She had been charging as much as 50,000 French francs per portrait by 1927, which was equivalent to about $2,000 then, but would be about 10 times as much today.

5. In 1980, Lempicka passed away in Mexico. Per her request, Lempicka’s ashes were scattered over the crater of the volcanic Mount Popocatepetl by her daughter, Kizette.

Larger versions of “Portrait of Marjorie Ferry” (left), “Adam and Eve” (center), and “Portrait of Madame Boucard” (right) are available.

Fans should check out the Lempicka galleries from BBC News, Bert Christensen, and Paloma; this video of Lempicka photos and artwork; and this video of her artwork.

“Feel Art Again” appears every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. You can e-mail us at feelartagain@gmail.com with artist suggestions or details of current exhibitions.