World Report

14-year-old Art Prodigy Credits Success to Romanian Heritage

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RALPH WENGE, CNN ANCHOR: This week a painting by abstract artist Pablo Picasso fetched nearly $29 million at an auction in New York. And a schoolgirl in the United States has taken the Spanish master as one of her models. In fact, some of her work is already commanding high prices.

Romanian Television reports that the 14-year-old prodigy credits part of her success to the cultural influence of her native country, Romania.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TANIA SIPERCO, ROMANIAN TELEVISION (voice-over): Alexandra Nichita was eight years old when she sold her first painting for $50. At 10, she was the official artists of the 39th edition of the Grammy Awards. By that time, she was called the budding castle and collectors had bought $3 million worth of her works. The Romanian born painter came to the United States with her parents in 1987 when she was two years old. The energetic toddler soon revealed to be a child prodigy who spent every waking hour painting abstract works that remind of later day Picassos.

ALEXANDRA NICHITA, PAINTER: Things are from issues related to peace, issues related to the environment. Then there's things related to my family, to friends, experiences that I personally have had from the transaction of childhood to adolescence and from, you know, what I look forward to coming in life, dreams, the importance of maintaining and always keeping a smile on your face, several, several, things, yeah.

SIPERCO: In order to afford oils, acrylics and canvases, Alexandra's parents exhibited her works at a local library. This was the beginning of a dazzling career. Paintings signed Nichita now sell for $200,000. Calvin Klein, Lee Iacocca, Phil Collins, Catherine Deneuve (ph), Whoopi Goldberg, David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey are among collectors.

Alexandra's works were displayed in exhibitions all over the world. The presidential palace of Cotrachen (ph) in Bucharest hosted her latest one shortly before Easter. She feels very attached to her native country, whose culture and traditions played an important part in her artistic development.

NICHITA: I have a private collection which I keep which is very, very, pieces that are extremely sentimental to me and pieces that mean a lot. And actually one of them is a painting that I painted about my first trip to Romania, about the time that I spent in Broduch (ph) with my grandparents so...

SIPERCO: Romanians also feel very strongly about Alexandra and consider her an ambassador of the Romanian culture.

EMIL CONSTANTINESCU, ROMANIAN PRESIDENT: Nikita's paintings prove that globalization cannot be only an economical or political process. It has to be first of all a cultural.

SIPERCO: Even for a genius, glory doesn't come easy. Alexandra has to work hard to promote her art, which leaves her just so much time to paint.

Tania Siperco, Romanian Television, for CNN WORLD REPORT.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com