Binz on Rügen is a rare early painting by Kandinsky created during his apprenticeship period. It embodies his experiments with technique as well as a thoughtful study of color, which would reveal itself in full force just a few years later. The artist created several paintings on picturesque beaches of the Rügen, an island in the Baltic Sea. This period can be regarded as the artist's early maturity - he is still strongly influenced by Neo-Impressionist techniques, yet is already beginning to feel his own way.

His works created in 1901 are mainly small plein air oil paintings. They are strongly influenced by Monet in terms of handling light and show stylistic parallels with Signac's technique. The impasto is so intense in these paintings that they become almost overloaded with color.* In this particular picture, the use of a palette knife* for applying paint fills it with an expressive, direct, and almost raw color that nearly disrupts the composition, revealing the artist's tendency toward abstraction.*

Kandinsky visited Binz in summer 1901 and painted four pictures in a similar technique there. One of them is now in the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; another is in Belgrade.

* Impasto (paste technique) is an oil painting technique in which paint is applied in thick brushstrokes, providing texture and expression.
** A palette knife is a special artist's tool for handling paint, resembling a knife or a small trowel.

Timeline

1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944