Since the 1960s, painting has left its traditional place on the canvas and opened up to the use of ready-made objects, text, or performative elements. Despite its de-differentiation, it remains one of the successful mediums. Isabelle Graw attributes this persistence to the unique ability of painterly signs to suggest the presence of an (absent) artist's subject. She understands painting as a specific form of sign-making, which accounts for both its de-specification and its specificity. Another central theme of painting, according to Peter Geimer, is its reflexivity: the idea that paintings can reflect themselves is particularly associated today with historiographically ambitious painters like Luc Tuymans, who engage with and depict contemporary history.