ABSTRACT. One of the major problems in software evolution is coping with the complexity which stems from the huge amount of data that must be considered. The current approaches to deal with that problem all aim at a reduction of complexity and a filtering of the relevant information. In this paper we propose an approach based on a combination of software visualization and software metrics which we have already successfully applied in the field of software reverse engineering. Using this approach we discuss a simple and effective way to visualize the evolution of software systems which helps to recover the evolution of object oriented software systems.