Like most of Kandinsky's early colour woodcuts made between 1902 and 1904 in Munich, Die Nacht is printed in the Japanese manner from apparently only two blocks. The colour block was inked by hand with watercolour pigments, which, possibly applied through a stencil, produced the subtle effect of hand colouring. Subsequently a line block in black was printed on top.

Die Nacht, with its mosaic and jewel-like quality, and flattened, sinuously delineated forms, enshrines the finest elements of Kandinsky's Jugendstil period.

The artist declared to his companion Gabriele Mnter that the lady in the medieval court dress represented his love for her: 'In Paris habe ich Holzschnitt 'Die Dame' (meine Liebe fr Dich darstellend) verkauft.' (Letter from the artist to G. Mnter, 25 October 1904, in Archiv der Gabriele Mnter und Johannes Eichner Stiftung, Munich.) The gouache model which Kandinsky executed for this print was the first of his works the artist ever gave to her.

A smaller version of this woodcut was published in 1903 as Nacht in the book Gedichte ohne Worte.

Kandinsky's chosen medium of the woodcut in these early years forced him to simplify his composition and to analyse carefully the essential elements of the design. Thus it played a crucial role in the development of his style, from the Jugendstil and decorative to the abstract.