While still painting representational works in the late 1930s, Macdonald became even more preoccupied with what he called his “modalities” or “thought idioms in nature,” seeking to carry painting into the realm of the spiritual through the creation of an infinite and timeless statement.

Of these, Fall (Modality 16) is the most monumental, its central motif a triangle that appears to aspire to the heavens. Through the pattern of the central striated area in the lower third of the canvas the painting speaks to the infinite and timeless world—the fourth, fifth, and sixth dimensions.