Around 1950, Roger Raveel painted a whole series of still lifes featuring tables, usually viewed from an oblique top-down perspective. In some instances there is an empty chair by the table, or a seated woman. Spread out on the tabletop are common, everyday objects as well as contemporary and modern objects: a cactus, a jar, a glass, a knife, scissors, a coffee pot, a breadboard, a notebook. Raveel uses the plane of the table to analyse things based on their individuality and presence. He gives each object its own material translation. Some objects he reduces to a mark or a silhouette, while others are rendered more realistically, with much attention paid to the material or texture in question. Frequently recurring motifs include the shiny metal coffee pot and the irregular wood-grain texture of the table.