In 1939, an exhibit of Picasso's anti-war mural, Guernica, followed by a large Picasso retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, led Pollock to recognize the expressive power of European modernism, which he had previously rejected in favor of American art. He began to forge a new style of semi-abstract totemic compositions, refined through obsessive reworking. The figures and heads in a composition like the 1943 Guardians of the Secret have been painted, cancelled out, and repainted, while the "secret" of the central rectangle is concealed by calligraphic markings. A mysterious guard-dog slumbers at the base of the picture.