IN 1956, as the Soviet Union was taking over Budapest, 20-year-old Anna Stein and her younger brother escaped over the Austrian border on foot. She left her homeland with a spare pair of shoes, some home-made biscuits from her mother, and two books - Hungarian poetry, and a volume of work by Dutch master painter, Rembrandt.
She returned to Budapest for the first time 17 years later as an established artist, exhibiting at one of the city's main art galleries and included by the French establishment as one of their own.
'It is strange, I was one of the first of the artists to return to Hungary to exhibit and I have pieces in museums and galleries in Budapest,' said Stein, who has been back to the country of her birth many times since.
'But they always refer to me as a French artist, and not as a Hungarian one.' From next week, she will be exhibiting at Hong Kong's Gallery 7, as part of the French May celebrations.
She admits that her life in Paris had been hard - for years she supported herself by selling jewellery - beautiful baroque earrings and watch straps that she now makes just for herself.
But the years of struggle have now paid off for her, especially when she looks at her contemporaries from the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris.