In his work, Raveel sets out to depict people and things as universally as possible. In the 1950s, his painting technique and formal language becomes increasingly fundamental. Hunched forward in the centre of the canvas is a stocky man, rendered in tactile strokes. The space inside the black rectangle behind the man is left as unpainted canvas. The surrounding white is applied to the canvas in scrapes. The figure, all bundled up, represents a person deeply preoccupied with his thoughts. More than merely a geometric element, the black-bordered rectangle is a recapitulation of the entire space behind the man.