"Grün in Blau", 1958

Around 1954, Ernst Wilhelm Nay began using the geometric shape of the circle filled with colour, the disc, as an autonomous element of his paintings. Their amplification in graduated colours preoccupied him for approximately eight years, the numerous variations of the motif are called disc pictures. They allowed Nay to rise up into the upper echelon of German artists, he received a great number of prizes and was included in the most important exhibitions - i.e. the 1956 Venice Biennial and in the 1958 exhibition "German Art of the 20th Century" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, before the first retrospective of his work in Düsseldorf in 1959 finally established his international importance.