 One of the notable and artistically challenging elements of the image is Rockwell 's use of white @-@ on @-@ white : white plates sitting on a white tablecloth . Art critic Deborah Solomon describes this as " one of the most ambitious plays of white @-@ against @-@ white since Whistler 's Symphony in White , No. 1 " . Solomon further describes the work as " a new level of descriptive realism . Yet , the painting doesn 't feel congested or fussy ; it is open and airy in the center . Extensive passages of white paint nicely frame the individual faces . " 
