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Czech by birth, Serpan began to paint, self-taught, in 1940. His pictorial and literary production at the end of the war were clearly influenced by Surrealism. This however gradually gave way to a language of signs whose spontaneity and highly graphic character owe much to Far Eastern scripts. Soon identified as a notable exponent of Informal Art, he rapidly developed an international career that saw him exhibit in Italy, Belgium and New York in 1957. This work is a large scale mural that formed the centrepiece of his show at the Parnass gallery, Wuppertal, in 1955-1956. A painting on paper that avoids colour, using only a dense black that stands out against a neutral ground, it appears as a proliferation of imaginary signs whose all-over distribution seems nonetheless to be governed by powerful magnetic forces.