 He perceived the effect to be "a haunting sense of loss," the paradoxical product of "Dickinson's incessant gaze and prolonged study of form," and in this work combined with a sense of decapitation and death.Driscoll recognizes water symbolism suggestive of disaster and death at sea in the imagery and relates it to shipwrecks that occurred in Provincetown, some of which he witnessed.Ward points out that the title that Dickinson gave the painting, as well as its original name, "Figures and Still Life" seem to reflect his determination to discourage interpretation.