Cancer is a condition that is not well understood and for which there is no reliable cure. Here the doctor, a man of science, appears to be stumped for an answer. The x-rays behind cast an eerie glow, and offer the contrast of body and mind. Robert has the doctor adopt “the thinker pose” used by Michelangelo, Durer, Rodin, Van Gogh, and other artists to suggest a mind grappling with a problem, a process often accompanied by melancholia, isolation, even madness. One of Robert’s key interests is making invisible thoughts and psychological states visible to the viewer. The x-ray also allows us to see conditions that would otherwise be invisible.