The view falls on a mise-en-scène with three figures occupying almost the entire pictorial surface. In the foreground is a man with a wide-brimmed yellow hat, who is clapping his raised hands. In front of him sits an adorned woman in a red robe, resting her left hand against her head. The other woman, wearing a headscarf that glistens in the light, bends down towards the two seated figures and shows them something she is holding in her hands.

It is a scene of social togetherness that also resonates artistically through the close proximity of the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue. A delightful aspect of the scene is the way it seems full of light despite its dark underlying tone, and how the points of light that shine on it bring the space to life with streaky stripes that evoke a downpour. The actual subject of the work, however, is the abstract event that the group is focusing its attention on, and which remains hidden from the viewer. We do not see what they see, but we are able to observe them observing.

Ruth Baumgarte placed the three rear-view figures in the center of the picture in order to bring into play the theme of “seeing” and the contemplation of this. In her artistic work, she was convinced from the beginning that it was not only a matter of creating an image of existing reality, but also of thematizing the act of seeing or observing.