Relationships, like elevators, go up and down. There were many studies for this painting about the break-up of a relationship. In the first studies, the couple face one another. In the finished painting, the man and woman face in the same direction, though disconnected by walls and doors. The woman occupies a space that is equal to half of the composition; the man has the other half, but as the elevator doors begin to close and hide him from view, there is the sense that his space is diminishing. His pose, the formal clothes he wears and the tall narrow shape of the elevator interior where he stands all suggest the idea of a coffin.