We met with Anna Peter Breton at her exhibition Seven Skies for Venice at Palazzo Polignac, for an in-depth conversation about her artistic journey, her inspirations and the connection she creates between the sky, nature and memory.
Your nomadic roots, your skies, your landscapes.
I have Kyrgyz ancestry on my mother’s side. In my family, shamanism is a tradition, not something esoteric or marginal, but a natural way of healing and understanding the world. I grew up in this culture, where energies and elements play an essential role. Even though I do not belong to a particular religion, I feel a deep connection with the forces of the universe. Some places evoke very intense emotions in me, like Venice, where I perceive a special energy, particularly in its churches. The frescoes that adorn them have deeply inspired me.
Beyond the spirituality of sacred places, it is nature itself that moves me. I capture fleeting moments: the motion of water, the quiver of a petal in the wind, the short-lived dance of clouds. These are fragments of miracle that I attempt to fix on canvas. I spend a lot of time in isolated places, like the wild cliffs of Cap Corse in Corsica or deep in the Fontainebleau Forest. In these places, the sky hypnotizes me, and the sunsets offer endless nuances.
Japan has also profoundly marked my journey. Before the birth of my first daughter, I spent a lot of time there, fascinated by the aesthetics and elegance that permeate every daily gesture. I explored Kyoto, the south of the country, and the island of Naoshima, where Tadao Ando’s architecture converses with nature. While in the hilly region above Kyoto, I painted many watercolours trying to capture that atmosphere where the landscape merges with the sacred. From this experience, the book Voyage amoureux au Japon came into being. There, as in Kyrgyzstan, I felt this connection with divine energies, the sensation of being at the end of the world yet in perfect harmony with it. It is in the silence and purity of unspoiled landscapes that one can best perceive the beauty of the world.
Clouds as symbols of emotions and states of mind.
Yes, The Miracle in particular. I see this painting as the abode of a great joy. It was born from a precise moment: just before the birth of my daughter, while we were near Paris, at the Abbey of Vaux de Cernay, I found myself facing an extraordinary sky, immersed in intense light. I felt it as a sign, a reassuring message, saying that everything would be alright. For me, a birth is a small miracle, an event that is both fragile and powerful.
In general, I always try to translate beauty and wonder into art. The clouds in my art are not just shapes in the sky: they are change, they are the passage of time, the transformations of the moment. They are ephemeral but never trivial. They always announce something new, a continuous renewal.
Fragility and the ephemeral beauty of nature. The role of art in climate awareness.
Art has immense power: it can awaken, question, and stir consciences in a way that is different from rational discourse. For this reason, I will participate in the upcoming Art for Climate festival in Ha Long Bay, in Vietnam, an event dedicated to raising awareness of environmental issues through artistic creation.
In my approach, I do not intend to highlight the negative aspects but rather to reveal the wonderful, that which deserves to be protected. I deeply believe that wonder remains a powerful engine for change. If art can make people see the magic of a sunset sky, the delicacy of reflections on water, or the poetry of a flower dancing in the wind, then perhaps they will want to protect these precious and unrepeatable moments.
