My interpretation:
This painting has a theme of "inside"/"framed by"/"within"/"surrounded by" versus "outside" in regards to how these people portray themselves on the outside versus how they really are on the inside. It seems to all say...Formal outside.... Casual/friendly inside and each person holds a clue as to what their inner world is really like.
The dog represents the inner world of the woman, the toy train represents the inner world of the man on the floor, while the flowers represent the inner world of the man in the frame. From left to right, the words Curiosity, Playfulness and Beauty come to mind. Three things that our inner selves naturally and instinctually gravitate toward but may be suppressed by the need to portray ourselves differently to the outside world.
The majority of the scene we see is taking place "inside" of a room, the man "within" the train tracks and then, lastly, the picture on the wall showing the flowers "inside" of the man in red. Not only that, be each subject in this painting is "framed" by either the doorway, the train tracks, or by picture frame.
I believe that, in regards to the subjects in this painting, there's a feeling of fluidity and balance between their inside and outside worlds and personalities. Boundaries can be crossed with ease and there's also a theme of being able to look inside from the outside.
If we focus just on the man in the suit for a minute (as he seems to be the main subject)... He's an adult in formal attire but is on the floor playing with a toy train. He's reaching over the boundary of shadow and light and adulthood and childhood. He's not bound by the train tracks but, instead, it's suggested he's a man who's capable of immersing himself and connecting with his inner child/fun side as well as his dark side and light side. The larger train tracks represent the path back to the outside world and notice how they cross the threshold into his inner world which is represented by the room he's in. The doorway is large and doesn't even have a door connected to it. The outside world with it's relationships and responsibilities and formal attire await him openly as they are also a part of him. Maybe that's his wife waiting for him to come out and join her to walk the dog.
There's also a relationship with color in this painting. The color red possibly suggesting fun and childhood (notice how there is more red the more "inside" you go and more blue the more "outside" you go). The man in the suit seems to be the main focus of this painting so I think what we see in the painting is representative of his life and his emotions. He wears a red tie for the world to see which can also means he's not afraid to connect with his fun side. The toy train and the man in the frame are also red on the outside. The color blue can be thought of as a balance. The mans suit could be interpreted as blue, the woman waiting for him is wearing blue and the man in the frame is surrounded by blue.
Lastly, I think the open doorway (complete with readily available train tracks to follow) suggest Future or Present instead of Past. It's an open door to wherever it may lead and to whatever may happen. To adulthood? The frame and the stronger presence of red on the framed man suggest a window to the Past and to Childhood which can be accessed to a point but the door is closed. It's now just an image or memory.
Just as a last thought, the more I interpret Rafal's paintings the more I think he was some sort of genius :D He puts so much meaning into his paintings in such a crazy layered way I have a hard time deciding where to even start. It's like interpreting a dream. Anyways, it was fun to immerse myself in this one! Thanks for reading :)
Link to the contest rules: https://steemit.com/artchallenge/@artquest-trail/artquest-trail-22-artchallenge-theme-announcement-100-trail-10-sbd-prize-pool-no-need-to-be-an-artist-to-take-part
