Cadmus’s What I Believe (1947-1948) is a beach picnic without food, inspired by E.M. Forester’s essay of the same-named. Forster is the dark man reading a book with the red cover in the lower left foreground. The figures are based on some of Cadmus’ friends and former lovers.
See Paul Cadmus. What I Believe (1947-1948), Egg tempera on pressed wood panel. Collection: Robert L. B. Tobin