Oil on canvas. Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Signed, dated, titled, as well as inscribed with the dimensions and a direction arrow on the stretcher. 100.5 x 125.3 cm.
- From the significant early phase of his “Fugal Pictures”. - A vivid testament to Nay’s exploration of music as a central source of inspiration during this creative period. - In its visual depth, the composition of the present work “Spiele” evokes associations to a musical fugue. - Playful: The theme: red; the response: blue; the resonance: white and gray. - “Fugale Bilder” are at, among others, the Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Museum Wiesbaden, the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Bavarian State Painting Collection in Munich, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, and the Sprengel Museum in Hanover.
We are grateful to Dr. Brigitte Schlüter of the Ernst Wilhelm Nay Foundation in Cologne for her kind expert advice.
LITERATURE: Aurel Scheibler, Ernst Wilhelm Nay. Werkverzeichnis der Ölgemälde, vol. 1: 1922-1951, Cologne 1990, CR no. 533 (illustrated in color). -- Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich, auction 115, 20th Century Art, June 1, 1987, lot 799 (illustrated, color plate).

Abstrakte Maler der inneren Emigration, Landesmuseum, Mainz, February 24-March 31, 1985, cat. no. 48

Galerie Wilbrand, Cologne (with the stamp on the stretcher). Private collection, Switzerland. Galerie Haeseler, Munich (since 1987, Galerie Wolfgang Ketterer, Munich). Private Southern Germany (acquired from the above around 2000)

Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de