You choose an atmosphere — and the art that lives in it.

In the five VIVIEN apartments in České Budějovice, the art grows from the work of academic painter Dimitrij Kadrnožka — a painter whose works hung at EXPO in Montreal beside Henri Matisse and who, at Fidel Castro's invitation, founded and led the National School of Fine Arts in Havana. In 2014 he had an exhibition in České Budějovice itself. His work informs the ceilings, walls and bathrooms throughout the house.

He was born in Kroměříž; his father was a legionary and a hero of Zborov. He studied at the Prague School of Applied Arts and scenography at AMU. He first went to Paris on a residency in 1947 and returned there throughout his life.

Seven years in Cuba transformed his work — from a landscape painter he became a painter on the border of sign, expression and abstraction. He belonged to Freemasons of the French branch. Besides paintings he created hundreds of film posters and three collections of his own poetry.

A long personal bond ties him to the Tomek family — Pravoslav Tomek's father organised his exhibitions and knew the painter personally. Pravoslav visited him as a child and later. That is also where much of the art you see in the VIVIEN apartments comes from.