Ernst Wilhelm Nay's 'Scheibenbilder' (Disc Pictures), of which 'Kleine Silbermelodie' is a prime example, embody pure abstraction and exemplify the growing recognition of non-representational painting in Germany. From 1955 onwards, the disc became the central motif in Nay's painting, which had gradually moved away from figuration since the end of the Second World War. The disc marked his departure from all angular and edgy shapes and any figurative associations. His compositions began to float across the canvas. This was a completely natural and logical development for the artist. Asked about the disc, he replied that for him, the natural spread of color in the process of painting is the circle. “Initially, my disc idea was entirely artistic. If the composer is a composer of sounds, I wanted to be a composer of colors, using the means of color in combination with rhythm, quanta, dynamics, and sequence on the surface.” (quoted from: Exhibition catalog Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, April 30–June 10, 1998, et al., p. 99) This realization helped him to ingeniously achieve the goal of simplifying his art. Suddenly, color became the sole vehicle of expression, like a pure sound, completely liberated from any figure or form. The present work showcases the disc in its purest form. Nay is almost entirely dispensed with linear compositional elements; the arrangement lives solely from color bodies floating on various pictorial levels. He contrasts light shades of white, gray, and yellow with striking black and dark gray discs, interrupted only by a few green and ochre-yellow accents. This creates a balanced interplay between lightness and weight, reticence and esprit, which is impressive even in this small format, thanks to the great compositional density. The work was created at the time of the artist's international breakthrough. In 1956, the artist was represented with his disc paintings at the Venice Biennale and was featured in the major retrospective “German Art of the Twentieth Century” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York a year later. [AR]