From 1983 onwards Coetzee began to venture into a mixed topography style, taking his hermetic figures, in this example Adonis, and adding abstract lines and forms. In Greek mythology, Adonis was the young lover of Aphrodite (the Goddess of Love) who was killed after being gored by a wild boar and died in her arms. Coetzee's use of red in the painting is reminiscent of the blood of Adonis.