The Young Painters
Short story about a novelist who writes a story about a painting owned by an acquaintance she met at a dinner party.
The dancer's painting showed several faces emerging from a bog, topped with hats. He told Nicole Krauss it had a sad story: one afternoon, the mother gave the children sleeping pills in their tea, drove to the forest, poured gasoline, and lit a match. All three burned. "They kept their Christmas tree up until April."