Pear Trees Near Birchwil

The large and wide oil painting, which hung for a long time above the dining room table in Fritz’s studio house in Birchwil, depicts two eagle owls, two little owls, and a long-eared owl on a winter night under a full moon. The birds are perched on the bare branches of a pear tree; “Pear Trees near Birchwil” is thus the somewhat arbitrary title of the work. Originally, however, the work was titled “Hera Smiles, or the Owls of Athens” and depicted the exact same birds in a landscape of Greek ruins (see photo below). Why Fritz made this change and painted over the background of the picture will likely forever remain his secret.