They are waiting for me

A man in a heavy grey overcoat with a dark red collar stands in an empty, bare-walled room, cradling a child's doll dressed in white against his chest. His head bows toward the doll's painted face and red hair; at his feet a small wooden high chair lies overturned and broken on the floorboards.

The mottled grey-blue wall and dim floor are built up in dry, scumbled brushwork that leaves the room feeling cold and stripped bare, while warmer flesh tones on the man's face and hands stand out against the muted setting. The stillness of the pose and the discarded furniture give the scene a subdued, mournful weight.