The key characteristic of this composition is obviously an immobile black ocean against the background of which colors and forms emerge in isolation. The magnificence of these colored forms leads to reflections about shapes, created by Matisse a decade later. The movement of forms is clearly directed upwards from both sides of the central axis, which crosses the object resembling a book and situating closer to the upper part of the canvas. In general the composition arouses sensation of some external space with soaring objects in it. Kandinsky always expressed great aversion to black color, and it is very symbolic that he had chosen this very color as a dominant one for his last composition.