On the gable wall of a historic tenement building at Stalowa 50 in Warsaw’s Praga-Północ district, a huge red heart appears to float against a pale blue sky. Built from numerous block-like shapes, it carries the large, flowing yellow inscription “Ania”. Small winged figures and clouds give the mural a playful, almost fairy-tale quality.

The mural’s origin is particularly unusual. Known today as “Ania”, it was painted on 8 April 2016 not as an independent street-art project, but as a backdrop for a McDonald’s advertising campaign. It appeared in the commercial “Lody z McDonald’s – najlepiej razem” (“McDonald’s ice cream – best together”). In the advertisement, a young man proudly shows his girlfriend the name “Ania” painted on the wall, only for her to point out that her name is actually Asia.

According to the available sources, the mural remained on the building after the commercial was filmed and subsequently became part of the streetscape of Praga. No individual artist is reliably documented.

The work is therefore an interesting example of how a commercial image can acquire a life of its own in the urban environment and eventually become part of a city’s street-art landscape.