 Vladimir Bougrine had much success in Vienna thanks to his patron Princess Ghislaine Windisch-Graetz and his award-winning portrait of Cardinal Koenig of Vienna.But his intention was to come to France, where he had friends, the Droin family, who had given him support after his imprisonment in Leningrad.In 1977, a few months after arriving in Paris, the French Ministry of Culture introduced him to the Moulin d'Ande, a community of writers, musicians and film-makers, run by Suzanne Lipinska and Maurice Pons.