In the winter of 1951, Ernst Wilhelm Nay left his studio in Hofheim im Taunus and moved to nearby Cologne. In the metropolis on the Rhine, the artist found a modest attic apartment in the Braunsfeld district where he set up his studio. In contrast to the tranquil rural Hofheim, a whole new and optimistic attitude towards life prevailed in the densely populated area, although Cologne, like so many German cities, was still clearly marked by war damage. A dynamic atmosphere of a new beginning was palpable and would soon catch the artist and inspire him to a new work group, the so-called "Rhythmic Pictures" (1952-1953). Works from this group testify to Nay's transition to purely abstract painting. The color is clearly liberated from any representational reference and covers the canvas in rhythmically dissolved surfaces entirely free from hard contours and geometric forms. The titles of the works in this group also reflect the pronounced dominance of color, or as Werner Haftmann once paraphrased it: "The special evocative quality of a color was conjured up by a suggestive word." (Werner Haftmann, E. W. Nay, Cologne 1960, p. 148) They bear titles such as "Silbermelodie” (Silver Melody) "Orange merkurisch” (Orange Mercurial) or "In schwarzen Takten” (In Black Beats) and incidentally reveal echoes of the world of music. It was in Cologne that Ernst Wilhelm Nay first came into contact with electronic music, and it was during this creative phase that he is was also strongly influenced by the progressive music of artists such as Boulez, Nono, or Stockhausen.

The work "Azuro", on the other hand, does not seem to need any reinforcing adjective or metaphor and stands entirely on its own. A strong azure blue, often used as a synonym for the blue of the sky, dominates the composition. However, the strong contrast of dark red to orange tones and bright lemon yellow means that the blue does not gain the upper hand, but is surrounded by white accents and green nuances, blending into the dense mesh of colors. These color chords are accompanied, as is so typical of works of this period, by black line structures. They do not limit or border the color, but rather set the pace. They structure the picture, allow the eye to jump between the deep black and the radiant glow of the colors, and in harmony with the color fields create a kind of movement that can be transferred to the body. "Azuro" seems to perfectly reflect the spirit of post-war Cologne and the new attitude towards life after the deprivations of war. It bears the rhythm of the period it was created and is emblematic of the increasing spread and recognition that abstract art saw in Germany. The work was first exhibited at the 2nd exhibition of the Deutscher Künstlerbund in Cologne in 1952, the year it was made. Even though the new art movement had already started to develop during the war and "appeared to some as a flashing sign of freedom in the time of total oppression" (Ingo F. Walther (ed.), Karl Ruhrberg, Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Vol. I, Cologne 2005, p.234). In the post-war period, however, abstract art fully unleashed its powers in Germany and Ernst Wilhelm Nay - as "Azuro" from 1952 impressively demonstrates – undoubtedly was one of its most important representatives. [AR]