In the early 1950s, E. W. Nay was drawn to Cologne. His decision to go to this culturally vibrant city, the capital of “new music” at the time, was deliberate. Cologne was the home of the newly founded "Studio für Elektronische Musik" where composers such as Pierre Boulez, Herbert Eimert, and Karlheinz Stockhausen made music history. This was the beginning of a particularly creative period for Nay, and he took a decisive step to determine the direction of his future work: Nay realized that his art had to be created entirely from color. While the 'Fugal Pictures' (1949–51), which he began in 1949, still represent a transition from figuration to abstraction, the 'Rhythmic Pictures' (1952–53), to which the present work belongs, mark the beginning of a purely abstract creative period. Nay's complete renunciation of figurative elements led him to the “most vibrant liberation of color” (E. W. Nay, letter to Alfred Hentzen, 1950), which he would make the central element of his compositions: “My system points to color as a pictorial form. Color is form. To me, color has a sculptural value. Not only do I prioritize color over other artistic means, but my entire artistic activity is guided solely by the concept of color design. […]." (E. W. Nay, Die Gestaltfarbe, in: Das Kunstwerk, vol. 6, 1952, issue 2, p. 4)

In 1953, the artist film "Eine Melodie—Vier Maler" (written and directed by Herbert Segelke) was released. This film project involved E. W. Nay, Jean Cocteau, Hans Erni, and Gino Severini. The painters used a fat crayon to transfer their impressions and visual interpretations directly onto a film strip while listening to the Polonaise from the Sixth French Suite by J. S. Bach.
The “Rhythmic Pictures" from 1952/1953 were also inspired by music. The organization of the pictorial structure also shows the influence of music theory. “In analogy to musical compositions, Nay tried to organize the colors in his pictures according to sound qualities and color chords, thereby developing a visual dynamic.” (Sophia Colditz, “Melodik der Farben. Fugale und Rhythmische Bilder”, in: ex. cat. E. W. Nay. Retrospektive, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Cologne 2022, p. 152) Numerous minor color chords, shaped by the gesture, meet free lines, staccato-like zigzag forms, and delicate sweeps. Like single notes played in time, colors and shapes alternate, repeat, and overlap until a noticeably rhythmic-melodic composition emerges.

While the color fragments in the “Fugal Pictures” are still separated by sharp contours, the colors in the “Rhythmic Pictures” are now more loosely interwoven, blending into one another. It is still the color that provides structure to the composition, but the relationship and the free forms of the color fragments scattered across the canvas give rise to a greater dynamism. The resulting sense of movement becomes the true pictorial theme, which Nay emphasizes with strong contrasting colors, thus achieving an absolute freedom of artistic expression that had never been realized before. [CH]