The scene in this painting is Christmas Day 1947 in the Green family home in Lissenden Mansions in North London. It is the only painting of the artist’s parents together (they divorced when Green was 13). Two couples are gathered together to watch the young Anthony open his Christmas presents. In the foreground Green’s aunt, who so closely resembles his mother opposite, is helping the child to manipulate a puppet – which in turn, is unmistakably the adult Anthony Green – while his father comes through the door. The painting is an extraordinary articulation of a specific space; the mirror’s bevelling fans out to reassemble the room, from so many angles simultaneously and the Christmas tree is constantly re-encountered as it appears around each corner. The separations and repetitions imposed by the space seem fraught with tension.