In their graphic works, Kirchner and the "Brücke" artists realized their new conception of art at the beginning of the 20th century and breathed new life into the then unpopular medium of printmaking: they elevated the technique, which had almost degenerated into a reproduction technique over the course of the 19th century, to a new artistic level. Throughout his life, printmaking continued to occupy a special place in Kirchner's artistic oeuvre and even after his move to Davos, Kirchner devoted himself to this technique, in particular to woodcuts. For example, his famous portraits of Davos farmers and people from his immediate surroundings, created around 1917/18, are regarded as outstanding examples of expressionist graphic art and as highlights in Kirchner's artistic oeuvre today. A few years later, in the winter of 1933/34, he created some of his most outstanding color woodcuts, including the work offered here.

Kirchner regularly traveled to nearby Basel. In the spring of 1933 alone, the artist visited an exhibition of works by Henri Rousseau in March and an exhibition on Georges Braque in April, both of which he reported about in his letters. On his way to Basel, Kirchner may have passed by Rapperswil on Lake Zurich, where he seems to have visited the harbor. Expressively and with masterful technique, Kirchner later rendered what he had seen in the polychrome woodcut. It was in this technique that Kirchner achieved groundbreaking things at this time. Instead of printing the black areas last - as was common practice - Kirchner printed the black area first and only then the blue and rosé, resulting in a visible overlapping of the color layers. The result is a particularly expressive, clear and modern composition in which Kirchner combined perspective and depth, color and contrasts, play of light and shadow, geometric-abstract elements and figuration, as well as free surfaces and graphic elements into an exciting whole. To date, only three copies of this color woodcut are known. [CH]