Comparing variations of the same image can be telling. In the watercolour version of Mother and Son, the headless patient does not emerge out of the body of the mother as is the case here in this severely symmetrical composition. It is as if Robert is depicting the scene of his own birth, only, in an unaccountable dislocation of time, he is born fully grown and wearing pyjamas.

Mexican artist Frida Kahlo painted a similar “self-portrait” of herself emerging from her mother’s womb as an adult, My Birth, 1932. However in Kahlo’s version, a somewhat gruesome and visceral image, the artist’s head is shown while the mother’s identity is hidden. The mother is a martyr who sacrifices herself for the creation of the remarkable and willful Frida. Robert’s image serves more as a tribute to his mother, whose strength and fortitude continues to nurture the artist, now that he’s sick more so than ever.