Returning to his studio one evening at dusk, Wassily Kandinsky was enchanted by "an unexpected spectacle." He suddenly saw "an indescribably beautiful picture, pervaded by an inner glow," he wrote in his "Reminiscences" of 1913 . "At first, I stopped short and then quickly approached this mysterious picture, on which I could discern only forms and colors and whose content was incomprehensible. At once, I discovered the key to the puzzle: it was a picture I had painted, standing on its side against the wall." Kandinsky was deeply affected, and the next day attempted a re-creation of his impression of the picture; but the light was not right, and the objects in the painting obstructed his reverie. "Now I could see that objects harmed my pictures," he concluded, noting that a "terrifying abyss of questions, a wealth of responsibilities stretched before me. And most important of all: What is to replace the missing object?"