Karel Appel
(1921 - 2006)

K. Appel Biography
(1921 - 2006)

Karel Appel was a Dutch painter, muralist, sculptor and poet, educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. Appel helped set up the Dutch Experimental Group in Amsterdam, which soon involved other international artists to create the International CoBrA group in 1948.

Influenced by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Jean Dubuffet, Appel utilized a vibrant and spontaneous picture language typical of the controversial CoBrA artists, leading the way for a new era of expressive painting in Europe. Appel was very active during this period and developed a new style of assemblage using elements of wood and found objects in relief, and also introduced elements of narrative representation.

In the 1940s he created his “objets poubelles” (rubbish objects), for which he became famous. These junk and found objects usually centred on a poignant and characteristically expressionistic theme, as with “Vragende Kinderen” (Questioning Children) of 1948-49.

Appel travelled to Mexico, the United States, Yugoslavia and Brazil, garnering international acclaim with solo exhibitions along the way. Appel received the UNESCO prize at the Venice Biennale in 1954, and the first prize at the Guggenheim Internationale exhibition in 1960. The Karel Appel Foundation established in 1999 in his hometown of Amsterdam.