[2] Trieff painted archetypal figures in a flattened and heavily delineated manner, which acted at once as self-portraits and allegories for the human condition.
[12] The New York Times art critic John Russell called Trieff a "peculiar painter".
[14] The pensive, introspective character of Trieff’s work as well as its spirituality and its iconic format have all been attributed to the influence of the abstract painter Mark Rothko.
[2] Trieff had myriad other influences: the confrontational quality of Watteau’s Pierrot; the structure of Velazquez’s Infanta series; the isolation of the wise fools of Shakespearean clowns; the flatness of Medieval painting; and the mystery of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and other films.
[3] Trieff was called "an American original" by the New York Times art critic John Russell.