Neoprimitive Narcissus

At the top of this painting, in the far distance, a rocket is launching into space. Two figures in the middle distance observe. Most of the picture is taken up with a naked figure ignoring this scene, crouched with his bum in the air, gazing at his own murky reflection in a pool of water. The contrast is between outer and inner worlds: knowledge of and power over external nature (represented by the rocket) versus the quest for knowledge of self, the unsolved mysteries of the naked human animal.