Emil Schumacher’s works generated from dialogue with his paintings. 'Something was opposed to' the yet plain canvas, a line, a stain, sometimes even the destruction of the surface. For every new element, an ‚answer’ needed to be found until a state occurred where the artist decided to stop. This evolutionary method shows strong parallels to Action Painting: in both cases, the paintings come out of the artist’s motions as well as the painterly development of elements, which stimulate each other during the painting process.