Karel Appel

The war and years after that

At the beginning of the war Apple made some powerful portraits of Dutch war victims. In 1946 Appel had his first solo exhibition in the Dutch city Groningen. Sometime later he took part in the exhibition “Young Painters” in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In this period Appel was particularly influenced by artists such as Picasso, Matisse and Dubuffet. In 1947 Appel began sculpting. The work ‘Drift op Zolder’ is characteristic of that period. Together with the artists Corneille, Constant, Anton Rooskens, Theo Wolvecamp and Jan Nieuwenhuys he founded on July 16th 1948 the Experimental Group Holland. In November of that year some members attended the conference on avant-garde art in Paris. At this conference Appel made contact with Danish and Belgian artists with whom he founded the famous CoBrA group. CoBrA is an acronym for Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.

CoBrA

In Denmark CoBrA was well known. In the Netherlands they had an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 1950. The exhibition was a big scandal. This left Appel disappointed and he left to Paris, where the exhibition was repeated. In Paris the artworks were more appreciated. In the years after that, Appel held numerous successful international solo exhibitions. In 1954 he even received the UNESCO prize at the Venice Biennale.

The years after CoBrA

After the CoBrA group fell apart Appel began to paint with thicker paint and developed his own style. The international breakthrough of Appel started around 1957, when his work was shown at the Sao Paulo Biennale. This led to more solo exhibitions in New York and Paris and in 1968 also finally in Holland, in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. During this period the works of art became increasingly abstract, although he continued to deny being an abstract painter. Around 1990 Appel worked from four places; New York, Connecticut, Monaco and Tuscany.

Style

The work of Appel is usually made out of several layers, which gives the image more depth. The figures are created in at least two stages and are usually placed against a monochrome background. According to Appel he never painted in an abstract style, although his art tends to be abstract. However, one can always recognise figures, animals or trees in the image. During the CoBrA period Appel painted simple shapes with solid lines that were filled with bright colours. Later in his career he separated form from colour.