After 1900 Minne received various assignments for portraits and monuments. The funerary monuments for the Osthaus family and the drawings from the period 1906-1909 already show a clear change in style towards a more true-to-nature depiction. Between 1910 and 1913 the artist abandons any form of stylising. He follows anatomy lessons at the University of Ghent and begins to work with a live model. A certain Lacaege stands as model for him and lives with the artist. During three years time, Minne studied with a resolute determination to achieve perfection in the realistic rendering of the body of the man. That results in Head of a Man from 1910, a bust from 1911 and a torso (The Docker), from 1911-1912. Lacaege also stood as model for The Ship Unloader from 1913.