This mural is called “The Old Oak Tree’s Last Dream” and can be found at Kongestien next to Brandts Klædefabrik in Odense, Denmark.
The image is based on a passage from H.C. Andersen’s fairy tale of the same name, where an oak tree has a conversation with a mayfly. The oak tree compares its own long life with the brief life of the mayfly and insists on the sadness in that the mayfly only lives a single day. The mayfly, on the other hand, is happy for that very reason and revels in its short and intense existence.
Photos and video: Rene Odgaard.
Thanks a lot to Energi Fyns Almene Fond, Ingeniør N.M. Knudsen’s Foundation and The Municipality of Odense for supporting the project. And many thanks to Cityhuset for letting me paint the the wall. And of course Riwal for the lifter.