The Green Shutters, Viaticum, Belgium, 1918 (oil on canvas)

Viaticum, mentioned in this picture's title, is the Christian communion ceremony for a dying person. Crosses and wreaths outside the cottage door show that the journey of life has ended for one person. Winter was also often seen as an image of death in paintings at this time. The young girl in the scene pulls a toy boat, suggesting that she is setting out on her 'voyage' through life. The artist probably intended the painting to evoke the sadness of the deaths of World War I in Belgium. The war was still taking place when the picture was painted in early 1918;