Figure 1 – The photograph within the Painting. Boston, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2021

I took the image of Figure 1 on Friday morning while having coffee in the cafeteria of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. There was a minimalist painting on the wall, one of those green squares mixed with green squares kind of things. But from my vantage point, I saw a perfect reflection of a beautiful birch tree in the courtyard just outside the window. It was splendidly catching the mood of the morning light. The whole image created this sense, in my mind, of mixing and interloping planes. It was conceptually a parallel to the original painting.

Birches have a deeper magic to my, perhaps all, generations. We were weened on the poetry of Robert Frost, and what greater tone poem than his birches.

“When I see birches bend to left and right

Across the lines of straighter darker trees,

I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.”

Robert Frost, Birches