"I already feel that my outdoor painting has benefited me during my recent experiments - partly completely abstract and partly with the inclusion of figures. I may have achieved a stronger connection between line rhythm and colour, a more intense movement and stronger luminosity. Carlsund, who is the world's greatest anti-naturalist, was interested in my work and convinced that I was experimenting my way towards something new." Letter from Erik Olson in Paris to Egon Östlund, October 25, 1929 (Halmstad, Berlin, Paris - Painting journey through the 1920s, Wiveca Bosson ed., The Halmstad Group Foundation, 1984, p. 252).

In the late 1920s, Erik Olson came into contact with more purist directions with artists such as Ozenfant, Mondrian, and Christian Berg. Naturalistic figures and forms were combined with geometric elements, foreshadowing Erik Olson's transition to a more plan-geometric style in the early 1930s. "Composition with Yellow Background" dated 1929 is a fine example of Erik Olson's pioneering art from this period.