Some 20 minutes drive from the capital of Mallorca, Palma, is the village of Valldemossa, a quaint hamlet of honey coloured stone houses set high up in the Tramuntana Mountains. It is a place where visitors and locals come to escape the many crowded beaches dotted along the coast. The village nestles neatly into the surrounding hills verdant with almond, oak and olive trees.

What better than to gravitate to the village square, to sit in the shade and catch up with friends one hasn’t seen for a few years? The fresh orange is good, so is the craic, and the air is filled with that heady Mediterranean perfume.

The museum, located across the square (and behind the vantage point of the painting), is attracting some attention. It is located in the old Monastery La Cartuja de Valldemossa, where Chopin and his French mistress, George Sand, spent the winter of 1838/39. Chopin’s piano may be silent but today he generates a different kind of music, tills ringing up sale after sale of memorabilia.