Krumlov native came of age in the cities of music 

Anna Chromy is known as a painter and sculptor who was born the youngest of four daughters in Český Krumlov in 1940. She grew up in a mixed family. Her father was German and her mother Czech. She died in Monaco in 2021. 

When Anna was five years old, the whole family moved to Austria. First they lived in Linz, later they moved to Salzburg. She studied in Vienna and grew up in Salzburg, cities that are sanctified by music. Anna loved music from her childhood, so it is not surprising that musical inspiration permeates all of her later artwork and continues to this day.

Life in France 

In 1965 she married Wolfgang Stein and they moved to France. She completes her professional education at the Paris Academy. She chose her artistic name - Chromy - after her grandmother in Prague and under this name she participates for the first time in the Spring Salon (Salon du Printemps) at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1975 and two years later has her solo exhibition at Galerie Hansen.

The influence of France

It was 1979 and Anna met her later teacher and loyal friend, Salvador Dalí, who had a very significant influence on her life. Salvador Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech was a very well-known Catalan painter who became famous for his surrealist works. Dalío once praised Anna saying, "You are the first woman to paint with the strength of one man, you will enter the history of painting."

A serious accident leads Anna to sculpture

From 1980 she lived with her husband in Monte Carlo.

Anna Chromy is an artist of truly Renaissance breadth. She is not only an excellent painter, but also a sculptor. She was indirectly drawn to sculpture, the three-dimensional expression of artistic visions, after a serious accident she suffered in 1992. As Anna's health did not allow her to paint pictures, she began to concentrate more on sculpture, where she incorporated her artistic vision.

Inspiration and works

Anny Chromy herself says of her work, "As much as I was exposed to many influences in Paris, my Central European heritage has always surfaced."

Anna Chromy found inspiration primarily in opera, classical dance and ancient mythology. Her paintings contain references to the works of the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism and other Central European artists. The colours she often used in her sculptures have a subtle Turnerian undertone.

Anna Chroma's most famous work is "The Empty Cloak", known as the Cloak of Conscience, the Contour or the Commendatore, which can be found in Salzburg Cathedral, in front of the Estates Theatre in Prague, in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens and other places.

Between 2007 and 2010, she worked the Shroud as a monolith more than four meters high, which was carved from a single piece of white marble weighing 200 tons (the weight of the sculpture after processing is 50 tons). The work was carried out at the Cave Michelangelo studio in Carrara. 

An unmissable work of art is also “Water fountain with statues of musicians”, located on Senovážné Square in Prague.

Places where you can see Anna's works:

• Eltville am Rhein, Leinpfad – CARMEN

• Munich/Garching, St. Severin – CHRIST ON CROSS

• Prague 1, Stavovske divadlo, V. Kotcich – THE CLOAK

• Prague 1, Senovazné namesti – CZECH MUSICIANS

• Prague 1, Senovazné namesti – DANCER

• Roquebrune Cap Martin, Carrefour Saint Martin – THE CLOAK OF SAINT MARTIN

• Roquebrune Cap Martin / Vieux Village, Place des deux Frères – LA FRANCE TRIOMPHANTE

• Salzburg, Makartsteg – HERBERT VON KARAJAN

• Salzburg, Dom, Kapitelplatz – THE CLOAK

• Monaco, Harbor, Yachtclub – ULYSSES

• Menton, Bastion, Promenade du Soleil – ULYSSES

• Alba, Museo Ferrero – THE CLOAK

• Portofino, Porto, Museo del Parco – DANCER

• Carrara, Studi d’Arte Cave Michelangelo, Via Piave –MONUMENTAL CLOAK

• Forte dei Marmi, Pontile, Piazza Navari – ULYSSES AND THE FOUR CONSTELLATIONS

• Pietrasanta, Piazza dello Statuto – DANCER

• Guangzhou, Museum of Modern Art – SISYPHUS AND CARMEN