Robert created large paintings showing chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer patients. Both paintings show a lone patient undergoing a trial. There is no doctor, only machinery and drugs that hint at technological wonders about to be performed. The only image depicting surgery is this small charcoal drawing of a lung operation. The most telling difference with the chemotherapy and radiation images, is the invisibility of the patient, the team of interns, nurses and attendants, lined up on one side of the body, assisting the doctor, on the other side, all of whom are masked and gloved, and the relatively low tech nature of the tools, such as scalpel, suction pump, and an array of tubes leading to a respirator. The doctor appears calm amidst confusion, while the anesthetist peers under the blanket to check on the patient’s condition. It’s obviously a picture of team work and professionalism, but with a hint that this immense effort to save the patient may offer only a short term solution.