Carmen (2004) Sculpture by Anna Chromy

Essentially, three regions of Europe influence Anna's imagination: Central Europe, where she grew up (born 18th July 1940 in Cesky Krumlov), Paris and the Côte d'Azur, and finally Tuscany, particularly Pietrasanta and the Riviera Versiliese.

The legacy of her youth between Salzburg and Vienna is primarily the influence of music, Mozart in particular. Only in 1989 was Anna allowed to see Prague again, when she put on her first exhibition of paintings on Czech soil. Since then she has been welcomed with open arms, notably for the great retrospective of her sculptures held in 2000 as part of the official programme put on by the city of Prague, cultural capital of Europe, then with her Fountain of Musicians and finally the Commendatore in front of the theatre where Mozart's Don Giovanni had its première in 1789.

In Paris Anna receives her artistic and cultural training. Having arrived at the end of 1968 after another student rebellion, Anna devotes herself to her studies to the Academy of Fine Arts, at the l'Académie de la Grande Chaumière and at the Sorbonne. What continues to make an impression on her is the artistic trends of the Left Bank as well as the philosophers, writers and singers of the time, Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens and Léo Ferré. Albert Camus, whose Myth of Sisyphus she was to later reinterpret, opens up to her a new world, full of light, which is to be the essential inspiration for the second part of her life: the Mediterranean.

After the Côte d'Azur first of all, where numerous monuments between Nice and Menton bear witness to her activity as a sculptress, she settles in Tuscany in 1990 in her studio in Pietrasanta on the Riviera Versiliesa. This region of Michelangelo, which has seen the passage of the greatest sculptors of our time, of Henry Moore at Botero, has become Anna Chromy's third artistic home after Prague and Paris. Endowed with great studios of marble and renowned foundries of art, the Tuscans are crazy about sculpture and know better than anyone else how to recognize and appreciate true artists. Their admiration for masterpieces is both vast and touching. They knew how to shower Anna with honours, including such things as the Groupe l’Odyssée à Forte dei Marmi, and by erecting the statue entitled "Sisyphe 2004" in the Scuola Superiore di Sant'Anna in Pisa, the most prestigious university in the whole of Italy.

In 2005, the bicentenary of Napoleon's victory at Austerlitz, Anna Cromy with her works steeped in the European civilisation will mount a peaceful assault on the Place Vendôme, one of the most beautiful locations on the continent. Her bronzes, which will surround the cast Vendôme pillar made from the bronze of the canons of the defeated Austrian army, reminds us of the path taken by Europe since this time.

For her return to Paris, the City of Light, which she loves so much, Anna will bring a show full of light colour and music. A feast for all our senses.

• Nationality: MONACO
• Date of birth : unknown date
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary Monegasque Artists