• Karel Appel

    Elephant

Biography

Karel Appel (1921-2006), co-founder of the famous artist group CoBrA, fascinates the viewer with his multi-layered and imaginative artistic works and is today considered one of the most important Dutch painters of the 20th century. In a strongly impasto style, Appel brings his emotions with rhythmic brushstrokes, but also directly with a spatula or hands on the canvas and has created an expressive oeuvre with figurative-abstract color landscapes over the decades that has been captivating the international art world since the 1950s .

The avant-garde CoBrA group was named after the hometowns (Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam) of the founding members, including Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, Constant and Pierre Corneille. After it was founded in Paris in 1948, it came to an official end in the early 1950s following differences. With the goal of spontaneous abstract painting represented by CoBrA, Karel Appel achieved great benevolence in international art criticism. Not least because of the French curator Michel Tapié, who classified him as one of the main protagonists of Art autre. His experimental and individualistic works, which were prominently promoted by the New York gallery owner Martha Jackson, Sam Francis and later Richard Lindner, hide behind their expressive style a great complexity due to the networking of art movements from the mid-20th century.

Karel Appel's figurative works are located in an area of ​​abstraction, which is located between the style of European Informel (French: without form) on the one hand, and figurative painting on the other. His artistic claim is an expression of an “atmosphere of constant search and experimentation”, as Asger Jorn already put it. This is also reflected in his analytical view of his surroundings.

Appel's often childlike compositions are deliberately chaotic ensembles of multicolored gradients and structures; they are landscapes, figures, but also portraits that lose themselves in dynamic variation. His works allow the subject and the ground to emerge vigorously through the strongly impasto oil paints, the components of which Appel even mixed himself.

With his energetic oeuvre and in his very own artistic way, Karel Appel pursued a unique avant-garde degree of abstraction in modern art. His expressive experiments and seemingly spontaneous compositions are inspiring perspectives on life.

It is a real fight to be awake, to see everything new, for the first time in your life.

Karel Appel, 1982 ©Photo, Marcel Antonisse, 1982, Anefo, Nationaal Archief, ©Quotations, Karel Appel

Ausstellungen

Messen

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

2019 Karel Appel. Figures et paysages Almine Rech, Paris
2017 Karel Appel. L‘art est une fête! Musée d‘Art moderne de la Ville de Paris
2016 Karel Appel. Der abstrakte Blick Emil Schumacher Museum, Hagen, Germany
2016 Karel Appel. A Gesture of Color. Paintings and Sculptures, 1947-2004 The Phillips Collection, Washington
2016 Karel Appel Retrospectief / Karel Appel RetrospectiveGemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
2016 Karel Appel: Works on paper Pinakothek der Moderne -Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München –, Munich
2015 Karel Appel: Works on paper Musée national d’art moderne – Centre Pompidou, Paris
2014 Karel Appel Blum & Poe, New York
2013 Karel Appel: I do not paint, I hit! Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark
2011 Karel Appel & Van Gogh,  Vincent van Gogh Huis, Zundert,The Netherlands
2008 Karel Appel - Jazz 1958–1962, Cobra Museum, Amstelveen, The Netherlands
2007 Karel Appel: Monumentale Aktzeichnungen, Albertina, Vienna
2005 Karel Appel: Retrospective 1945–2005,  Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum, Bratislava
2005 Karel Appel: Recente Werken, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
2004 Paperworks of Karel Appel National Museum, Belgrade
2004 Karel Appel. New Works on Paper, JG Contemporary, New York
2004 Karel Appel. Onderweg: Reis van Rudi Fuchs langs de Kunst der Lage Landen Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
2002 Karel Appel, Kunstforum Wien, Vienna
2002 Karel Appel: werken op papier, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
2001 Karel Appel: Beelden 1936–2000, Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen, The Netherlands
2001 Karel Appel: Pastorale Chiaroscuro, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
2001 Karel Appel: Werk op papier, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
2000 Karel Appel: Recente sculpturen & gedichten, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
2000 Karel Appel: 2000, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2004 Encounters wModernism. Highlights from the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paolo
2004 Encounters wModernism. Highlights from theStedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Singapore Art Museum
2004 Encounters wModernism. Highlights from the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam Shanghai Art Museum
2004 Expressive Bildwelten: die Schenkungen Otto van de Loo, Kunsthalle in Emden, Germany
2004 Nordic Summer, Galerie Beyeler, Basel
2003 Expressiv! Fondation Beyeler, Basel
2003 Papiers choisis, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse
2003 Up to now, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
2003 Gogh Modern: Vincent van Gogh en de hedendaagse kunst, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
2003 Cobra in the Hermitage, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
2003 Paris 1945 bis 1965 Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz, Austria
2002 Paris: Capital of the Arts, 1900 – 1968, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain
2002 Paris: Capital of the Arts, 1900 – 1968, The Royal Academy of Arts, London
2001 Sonsbeek 9: Locus / Focus Park Sonsbeek, Arnhem, The Netherlands
2000 Le musée du XXe siècle de Michel Ragon
1950 - 2000 Hôtel du Départment de la Vendée, La Roche-sur-Yon, France
2000 About Collage Tate Gallery Liverpool
1999 Zeitschnitt 1900 – 2000, Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Austria
1999 A Rebours. La Rebelión Informalista 1939-
1968, Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas, Spain
1998 Rendezvous. Masterpieces from the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Guggenheim Museums, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1998 Ecole de Paris, Staatsmuseum, Luxembourg
1998 Künstler der Gruppen COBRA und SPUR: Sammlung Selinka Schloß Achberg, Ravensburg, Germany
1997 Made in France 1947 - 1997 Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris
1997 Cobra works from the collection of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
1997 Torino-Parigi-New York-Osaka: Tapié-Un art autre Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin
1997 Cobra. Art expérimental 1948-1951, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland
1997 Art of the 20th Century, Flemish and Dutch Painting. From Van Gogh, Ensor, Magritte, Mondrian to contemporary artists, Palazzo
Grassi, Venice
1996 Después de Goya. Una mirada subjetiva Palacio de la Lonja, Zaragoza, Spain
1996 La dimension du corps 1920 – 1980, Le Musée National d’Art Moderne, Kyoto
1996 La dimension du corps 1920 – 1980, Le Musée National d’Art Moderne, Tokyo
1996 Face à l‘Histoire, 1933- 1996. L’artiste moderne face à l’événement historique Centre national d’art et de culture Georges
Pompidou, Paris
1996 Munch en na Munch: of de hardnekkigheid van schilders / Munch and after Munch: or the obstinacy of painters, Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam
1996 Prospettiva del passato. Da Van Gogh ai contemporanei nelle raccolte dello Stedelijk Museum di Amsterdam, Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
1995 Mit dem Auge des Kindes. Kinderzeichnung und moderne Kunst, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
1995 Passions Privées, Museé d‘Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1995 Views from Abroad. European Perspectives on American Art I, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1995 Views from Abroad. European Perspectives on American Art I, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1995 Couplet 5 - Dansende Meisjes, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1995 Postwar Europe 1945-1965: Arts After the Deluge, Centro Cultural de la Fundación La Caixa, Barcelona
1994 Autour d’une collection de Monsieur et Madame G. Pompidou, Maison des Arts Georges Pompidou, Cajarc, France
1994 Couplet 1, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1994 New Displays 1994 Tate Gallery, London
1994 L‘Art au Pays-Bas au XXe siècle, Musée d‘Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1992 Automatismos Paralelos. La Europa de los Movimientos Experimentales 1944-1956 Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas
de Gran Canaria, Spain
1992 Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
1992 Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, Kunsthalle Basel
1992 Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina
Sofía, Madrid
1992 Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1992 New Realities: Art in Western Europe 1945-
1968, Tate Gallery Liverpool
1992 Figures of Contemporary Sculpture (1970-1990): Images of Man, Isetan Museum of Art,Tokyo
1991 Towards a New Museum: Highlights from the Collection, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1989 CoBrA. Eine europaische Bewegung Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
1989 L‘Europe des grandes maîtres: Quand ils etaient jeunes, 1870-1970, Musée Jacquemart-
André, Paris
1988 Les Années 50, Musée national d‘art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris
1988 Fondation Vincent Van Gogh – Arles. Naissance d’une collection 1985 – 1988 Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Arles, France
1987 Beelden en Banieren, Fort Asperen, Acquoi, The Netherlands
1987 L‘Art en Europe. Les années décisives 1945-
1953, Musée d‘Art Moderne, Saint Etienne, France
1986 Paris en quatre temps, Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris
1986 Bilder fra Inger og Andreas L. Riis’ samling Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Høvikodden, Norway
1986 En compagnie de Michel Butor, Le Musée de Valence, France
1985 7th Cleveland International Drawing Biennale. Invited Artist: Karel Appel Cleveland County Museum, United Kingdom
1985 Action et emotion. Peintures des années 50. Informel, Gutaï, Cobra, Musée national d’arte, Osaka
1985 100 Years of Dutch Painting. Highlights from the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Niigata City Art Museum, Tokyo.
1984 Artistic Collaboration in the Twentieth Century, Hirshorn Museum

1984 La Grande Parade. Hoogtepunten van de schilderkunst na 1940 / Highlights in Painting after 1940, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1984 Creation. Modern Art and Nature, The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
1984 El movimiento Cobra en la colección Karel van Stuyvenberg Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas
1983 Expressive Malerei nach Picasso, Galerie Beyeler, Basel
1982 Saône Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes
1982 Appel et Alechinsky. Encres à deux pinceaux, peintures, etc., Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul de Vence, France
1982 CoBrA, 1948-1951, Musée d‘Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris
1981 Avantgarden - Retrospectiv. Kunst nach 1945, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany
1981 Paris 1937 - Paris 1957: Créations en France Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris
1980 Belgique - Pays-Bas. Points de rapprochement et parallèles dans l’art après 1945 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
1974 Since 1945: vol. I, The World of Abstract Expression [works by 17 European and American Artists], Fuji Television Gallery, Tokyo
1974 CoBrA and Contrasts, The Winston-Malbin Collection, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1974
1973 The Private Collection of Martha Jackson University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park
1973 Primal Images: Appel, Calder, Dubuffet, Miró De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts
1973 Selected works from the Asger Jorn collection, Silkeborg Kunstmuseum, Denmark
1971 Martha Jackson Gallery Collection, The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo
1971 Stedelijk ’60-’70 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
1971 Opere di Maestri Contemporanei Europei Palazzo Internazionale delle Aste ed Esposizioni, Florence
1971 The 31st Annual Works on Paper, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
1970 Trends in Twentieth Century Art. A Loan from the San Francisco Museum of Art The Art Galleries, University of California, 

1969 Appel – Lucebert –Tajiri, Kunsthalle Basel
1969 Art présent, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
1968 Painting in France 1900 – 1967, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
1968 Painting in France 1900 – 1967, National Gallery of Art, Washington
1968 L’art vivant 1965 – 1968, Fondation Maeght, Saint Paul de Vence, France
1968 Peintres Européens d’aujourd’hui, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
1967 Campo vitale, Il Centro Internazionale della Arti e del Costume, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
1967 ROSC ’67. The Poetry of Vision. An International Exhibition of modern Painting and ancient Celtic Art Royal Dublin Society
1966 Kontraste. Vier Möglichkeiten des Künstlerischen. Josef Albers, Karel Appel, Max Ernst, Robert Rauschenberg, Overbeck - Gesellschaft Lübeck, Germany
1966 Four European Artists and the Figure, The Art Institute of Chicago
1965 Imagadventure, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
1965 Colorists 1950 – 1965, San Francisco Museum of Art
1965 Moderne Nederlandsk Maleri, Stavanger Kunstforening, Norway
1965 Un groupe 1965, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1965 40 Key Artists of the Mid-20th Century Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan
1964 documenta III, Kassel, Germany
1964 Painting and Sculpture of a Decade 54 - 64 Tate Gallery, London
1964 Van Gogh and Expressionism, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1964 Karel Appel, Jaap Mooy, Lucebert, DutchPavillion, XXXII Biennale Internazionale d‘Arte, Venice
1964 Neue Realisten & Pop Art, Akademie der Künste, Berlin
1963 Visione Colore, Il Centro Internazionale della Arti e del Costume, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
1963 Ve Salon. Grands et jeunes d’aujourdhui Musée d‘Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1963 The Dunn International, an exhibition of contemporary painting, The Tate Gallery, London
1963 The Dunn International, an exhibition of contemporary painting, The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, Canada
1963 Schrift en beeld, Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden- Baden, Germany, as Schrift und Bild
1963 Schrift en beeld, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1963 20th century Master Drawings, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1962 Nederlands bijdrage tot de internationale ontwikkeling sedert
1962 Pioniers. 50 Meesterwerken / Masterpieces, from the Stedelijk Museum, AmsterdamCuraçao‘s Museum, Willemstad
1962 Art since 1950. American and International Seattle World’s Fair
1960 Famous Likeness, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston
1960 Trends in Dutch Painting since Van Gogh National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1960 Jonge Kunst uit de collectie Dotremont - Brussel, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
1960 International Exhibition, Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam, The Netherlands
1960 International Exhibition, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1960 XVIIe Salon de Mai, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1960 XVIIe Salon de Mai, Musée d’Art Modernede la Ville de Paris
1960 Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam besöker Moderna Museet Stockholm,
1960 Antagonismes, Musée des Arts Decoratifs - Palais du Louvre - Pavillon de Marsan, Paris
1960 A selection from the Margulies Collection. New paintings from Paris, The Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, United Kingdom
1960 Polariteit. Het appolinische en het dionysische in de kunst, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1960 Keerpunten in de Nederlandse Schilderkunst
1920 - 1960, Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
1960 Neue Malerei. Form Struktur Bedeutung Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich
1959 Actualités. Contemporary Watercolours and Gouaches by Appel, Bluhm, Davie, Dubuffet, Francis, Jorn, Mathieu, Michaux, Riopelle,
Stubbing, Wemaere, Wols, Wolvecamp Arthur Tooth and Sons Ltd, London
1959 Twenty Contemporary Painters from the Phillipe Dotremont Collection, Brussels The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
1959 Premio dell‘Ariete. 20 Quadri 1959, Selezione biennale di pittura internazional,