Karel Appel

Karel Appel (1921–2006) knew from an early age that he wanted to become a painter and began his studies at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam in 1942. There he met Corneille, with whom he traveled to Liège in 1946. A year later, they exhibited their work together. After a stopover in Paris, they returned to Amsterdam. There they met Constant, and in 1948 the three of them exhibited together in Amsterdam. On July 16, 1948, Appel, Corneille, and Constant, together with Anton Rooskens, Theo Wolvecamp, and Jan Nieuwenhuys (Constant’s brother), founded the Dutch Experimental Group. On November 8, 1948, Appel co-founded CoBrA. He is likely the best-known member of the movement in the Netherlands. He became famous above all for his credo, “I just mess around.” His work caused quite a stir in the Dutch art world of the 1940s and 1950s. For example, his 1949 mural “Vragende kinderen” (“Questioning Children”) in the Amsterdam City Hall cafeteria sparked a veritable scandal. At the insistence of outraged officials, this “controversial Appel” was even covered up by the city, and the artwork remained hidden behind wallpaper for ten years. Appel always advocated for direct expression through paint, rather than the Marxist analysis of Western civilization championed by Constant. Consequently, he never paid much attention to the theoretical pamphlets by Constant and Dotremont. During the CoBrA years, he painted friendly, innocent childlike figures and fantasy animals in bright colors, simple forms, and with bold lines. Even after the dissolution of CoBrA, he managed to retain this emotional approach to his subject matter. In the 1950s, he developed an increasingly intense painting style; lines and blocks of color merged into a dynamic mass of paint. In addition to painting, the versatile Appel also created assemblages and sculptures and wrote poetry. In 1953, his work was exhibited at the São Paulo Biennial, and that same year he also had his first major solo exhibition. In 1954, he had solo exhibitions in Paris and New York. These marked the beginning of an international career. Quote: “I paint like a barbarian in these barbaric times.”