From 1950 onwards, Ernst Wilhelm Nay—one of the most important abstract painters of the postwar period—removed every hint of representationalism in his paintings. From that point on, his aim was to place colors and forms contrapuntally to one other. Beginning in 1955, he composed his pictures from colored discs. Around 1960, the circles became more open, bursting and dissolving at the edges. The painting Schlüsselzeichen (Key Signs) demonstrates how Nay’s painting became increasingly ecstatic and colorful. Rhythms of forms and tones of color combine to form an exciting composition. The painting was acquired for the Kunstsammlung by the Friends in 1986.