In 1968, Roger Raveel moved with his wife Zulma and his father Gustaaf to a house on Hoevestraat in Machelen-aan-de-Leie. The property, a former farmhouse, would be modestly renovated and furnished with a modern aesthetic. This new environment starts to appear in the artist’s paintings from the 1970s onwards. In this work, for instance, we see the white space of the living room where Raveel’s father seems to be looking out through the window. However, the aluminium frame betrays the fact that this is not a view of the garden but a painting. Raveel’s father is depicted in many of his drawings and paintings. The anonymous figures wearing caps are often inspired by him. This work was made a year before Gustaaf Raveel’s death. It is a melancholic painting: from the empty white space, we look over the shoulder of a man lost in thought.