Most or practically all of Tuymans' images are based upon already represented imagery, ranging from drawings, photographs, found images, film stills, Polaroid's, etc.; nevertheless he always tries to focus on specific meanings reaching further than that what is represented. The content can at times be based on historical facts or material, but these are reworked in a way that they do not repeat themselves. The image never disintegrates into fragments. It is only fragmentary as a whole. The painting resides somewhere between the observer and the image, at a claustrophobic point of non-communication, as an accomplished fact, such as the silent weight of deceit, memory and trauma before or after an event. In this sense, realising through mimicry the element of reconstruction. Therefore the imagery could only be perceived as questionable and ambiguous; since it allows for different reading and several layers of meaning.