Von Motesiczky initially attended an art school in The Hague, then—from 1924—studied painting at the new School of Arts and Crafts in Frankfurt. In 1927, after a stay in Paris for study purposes, she accepted Max Beckmann’s invitation to join his master studio. Having sojourned for a time in Berlin and Vienna, the painter fled the National Socialists in 1938, going to The Hague, where her first solo exhibition took place. The following year she moved to England and settled there permanently. Von Motesiczky continued working as a painter, but it was not until 1980 / 81 that an exhibition was devoted to her oeuvre in Frankfurt.