A striking Art Deco portrait by Tamara de Lempicka, unseen on the market for four decades, is set to go under the hammer at Christie’s London next month. Portrait du Docteur Boucard (1928), a glamorous depiction of bacteriologist Pierre Boucard, is expected to fetch between £5 million and £8 million—potentially setting a new auction record for a male portrait by the Polish artist.
The painting’s reappearance comes hot on the heels of the blockbuster Tamara de Lempicka retrospective at San Francisco’s de Young Museum, which closed this weekend after drawing crowds eager to see the first major U.S. exhibition dedicated to the Art Deco icon. The show is heading to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, where it will open just days after the Christie’s sale on March 5.
Portrait du Docteur Boucard captures the doctor in his lab coat, holding a test tube against a dramatic, Cubist-inspired grey background. Lempicka, known for infusing even the most mundane subjects with glamour, transforms Boucard into a figure of cinematic allure. “She made the doctor completely flamboyant as if he were a film noir actor,” said Giovanna Bertazzoni, Christie’s Europe chairman. “It’s fantastically seductive.”
The painting was commissioned by Boucard, a pioneering scientist who invented the probiotic Lactéol, which is still used today for gut health. Lempicka also painted his wife and daughter, and these commissions helped fund her lavish lifestyle, including a Paris studio designed by modernist architect Robert Mallet-Stevens. The Boucard portraits are considered among the finest works from Lempicka’s “vintage years,” when her career peaked.
When Portrait du Docteur Boucard last appeared at auction in 1985, it sold for just 255,000. Since then, Lempicka’s market has skyrocketed. Her current auction record was set in 2020 when∗Portrait de Marjorie Ferry∗(1932) fetched £16.28 million (21.16 million) at Christie’s London.
Lempicka’s top six sales have all occurred in the last seven years, reflecting a surge in demand for her work. “The market is very hot on Lempicka. There’s a crescendo of interest,” Bertazzoni noted, attributing the artist’s appeal to her instantly recognisable style and the glamorous, high-society world she depicted. “This is a large-scale, monumental picture coming up at auction when interest in Lempicka is at its peak.”
While Lempicka is best known for her portraits of elegant, sophisticated women—her top 13 auction prices are all for female subjects—Portrait du Docteur Boucard could set a new benchmark for her male portraits. The current record for a male sitter is held by Portrait du Marquis d’Afflito, which sold for $4.56 million in 2012. Bertazzoni believes the Boucard portrait will surpass that figure, calling it a rare example of the “female gaze” in art.
With its combination of scientific precision and cinematic glamour, Portrait du Docteur Boucard is poised to make waves at Christie’s next month—and perhaps rewrite the record books again.
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