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WARSZAWA

The temperature fell to -36° centigrade that winter – and to -22° inside the
room that Ann Frössén rented. The pipes burst and being ill with a cold
proved an ordeal. But when Ann stayed at home to nurse her cold she was
told that she should think seriously about her future at the academy. Things
were different from what she was used to: ration coupons were needed to
buy toilet paper and meat – which she gave to the family she lived with – and
black and white war films from the Soviet Union were shown on the television
in the evenings.
What enabled her to survive was the love and consideration that she
experienced, she now says. And the extraordinary quality of the Academy of
Fine Arts. She has always stressed the value to her art of drawing from a live
model.

Poland was very different when she was studying art in Warsaw almost twenty
years ago. It was a dark time; the communist generals’ state of war was still in
force. That the winter of 1986-87 was the coldest for many years and perhaps
made it all the more difficult to realize how close Poland was to its democratic
spring.
Earlier that year the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter had printed the
following note: “Next year Ann Frössén will travel to Warsaw to study at the
Academy of Fine Arts. She is the recipient of a one-year scholarship from
the Swedish Institute. She has chosen Warsaw primarily because instruction
is still given in the classical techniques of painting. One can learn to paint like
the old masters, Rembrandt for example.”
She knew almost nothing about Poland and she started to study Polish
at evening classes to prepare for her stay in Warsaw. She could not imagine
what awaited her: severe cold and food shortages. There was nothing edible
to buy. In spite of the fact that the academy is situated on the main boulevard,
the Krakowskie Przdemiescie, there were only cafés to go to. “There was hot
water so one could always drink tea. When I went to shop for food I had to buy

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