Robert’s image of a torn maple leaf was inspired by Georgia O’Keefe’s painting, Leaf Motif No. 1, 1924, but his delicate watercolour is altogether different in mood and technique from O’Keefe’s dark and heavy oil painting. Robert first noted the idea in art school, at the time of the 1980 Québéc referendum on sovereignty, which threatened to break Canada apart as a nation. The maple leaf is of course Canada’s national symbol. Robert did not pursue this idea beyond a quick sketch. However, he returned to the torn leaf at the end of his life. It now had a new meaning: the leaf was symbolic of a body fighting disease. The leaf stands like a human figure, proud but inwardly decaying, with a glaring blue shadow pinning it against a wall. The watercolour was part of a series of small works of plants and flowers created after the exhausting work of Robert’s cancer series.