From the beginning inwardly independent and uncompromising, E. W. Nay has gone his artistic path. Nay ́s late paintings, today appearing to be more topical than ever, were understood by only a few in their day. Nay described them as „Elemental Painting“ - the surface as color and the color as surface, color as spiritual setting. He saw them as his artistic climax, his last painting as his perfection. The publication is preceded by an essay by the young author Kristian Vistrup Madsen, who deals with the reception of the late work. In addition, Nay himself speaks in selected writings from 1965-1968, and important texts by his interpreters and contemporary witnesses shed light on all relevant aspects of his late work. Text: Siegfried Gohr, Werner Haftmann, Werner Hofmann, Kristian Vistrup Madsen, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Elisabeth Nay- Scheibler, Aurel Scheibler, Helmut Schneider, Fritz Usinger