Three things put together out of which came a fourth thing.

1. A small amateurish painting in a restaurant in Collioure. The painting is of the nearby harbour seen from above, a bit muddy but quite nicely handled, especially the palm trees. There is no name on the painting. It is one of these bar/restaurants, found all over France, that was famous for artists drinking and dining in. And sure enough in a frame there is a photo of Picasso with the proprietor and a doodled upon napkin, which probably paid for his meal that night.

2. A postcard of a photograph by Natalia Poniatowska, a very recent graduate of Glasgow School of Art. The photograph is taken from above looking down on a park of palm trees. Black and white. Wonderful tonality to it. Beautifully seen, well executed.

3. A watercolour done in a park in Arles, on my 50th birthday. Through a space in the trees I could see a muslim woman, a black shape in the right position.

It is all these and neither of them.