Anna Chromý

Anna Chromý (born 18 July 1940 in Český Krumlov, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; died 18 September 2021 in Monte Carlo, Monaco) was a Czech painter and sculptor linked to Surrealism. Her life moved between Bohemia, Austria, France and Italy, which led many to regard her as a quintessentially European artist.

At the end of the Second World War her family left Bohemia for Vienna. They lacked the money for her to attend art school, so her formal training only became possible after she married and moved to Paris, where she studied at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1970 she and her husband, Wolfgang, settled in Barbizon, and she began studying at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. In Paris she met Salvador Dalí, who became her mentor and a personal friend and shaped her imagination. Her paintings also draw on Max Ernst, René Magritte, the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism, and soft colours reminiscent of Turner.

A serious accident in 1992 kept her from painting for eight years. She turned to sculpture in bronze and marble, working in studios in Pietrasanta and with Franko Barattini in Carrara. Her best-known work is the Cloak of Conscience, also called Piétà or Commendatore, which stands in Salzburg Cathedral and has also been shown at the Estates Theatre in Prague and the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Other major works include Olympic Spirit, Europe and Ulysses. Music, especially opera, classical dance and ancient myths were lasting sources of inspiration.

In 2000 she staged the exhibition Don Giovanni and the Sound of Bronze in Prague, and in 2009 her Olivier d'Or was presented to Elie Wiesel. Her legacy includes the Chromy Awards, created in 2013 to honour people working to save humanity or the Earth, and her recognition in China, where she was made an honorary fellow of the National Academy of Sculpture in Beijing.