For the herbalist, the paradoxical, dreamed-of space is a place of reflection on the relationship of femininity and vegetation, on the paradoxes of capitalist modernity and the sensuality of nature. Exotic fruit has always been a symbol of wealth and evoked a certain kind of sympathy and excitement. Inspiration with the painting by Aleksander Gierymski is not without reference, and neither is it as for an artist, fruit is to be a symbol of life-giving strength in a sad, sleepy winter landscape.