Tamara de Lempicka, Nude with Buildings, 1930
Oil on canvas, 92 × 73 cm (36 1/4 × 28 3/4 in). Private Collection
© 2025 Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC/ ADAGP, Paris / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
In Nude with Buildings, a young woman delicately clasps an olive branch—a fragile symbol of peace and nature—in her hand. Against her soft, human form, the stark, geometric lines of the city loom cold and distant, transforming the landscape into a petrified urban desert. The contrast between the warmth of her body and the unyielding, sterile structures around her speaks to a profound disconnection between humanity and the natural world. The olive branch, a fleeting vestige of life, seems almost lost in this towering, lifeless expanse, suggesting a poignant longing for something more primal, more serene—a memory of a world that feels increasingly out of reach amidst the encroaching modernity.