The cycle of 12 short piano pieces was composed in the autumn of 1879. The separate Silhouettes are, with three exceptions, elaborations on themes from three compositions which Dvorák wrote in 1865 and which remained unpublished: from the first two symphonies and from the first song cycle Cypresses. The Silhouettes were published in 1880 by Fr. Hofmeister in Leipzig, despite Dvorák having promised priority publishing rights of all his new works to Simrock. Hofmeister also published a four-hand arrangement of the work. The publication is part of the first Complete Critical Edition of the Works of Antonín Dvorák. The Preface is penned by Otakar Sourek (Czech, English, German, French).