Karel Appel
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Karel Appel
Elephant
1974, oil on canvas, 76 x 61 cm -
Elephant
1974, oil on canvas, 76 x 61 cm -
People in Landscape
1989, acrylic on paper, 65 x 102.9cm -
Untitled
1994, oil on canvas, 50 x 60 cm -
Figures in blue background
1987, oil on canvas, 84.3 x 111.1 cm -
Untitled
1982, acrylic on paper on canvas, 110 x 75.5 cm -
Composition
undated, acrylic on paper, 58 x 76 cm
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.
Exhibitions
Museums- und Einzelausstellungen (Auswahl)
2024
The Current Selection from the Collection, Kunsthalle in Emden, Emden, Germany
2023
The Echo of Picasso, Museo Picasso Málaga, Málaga, Spain
Seven Rooms And A Garden, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
Terrific: Fascination Würth Collection, Museum Würth 2, Künzelsau, Germany
2022
Herzstücke, Kunsthalle Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
2021
Beat the System! Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Germany
2020
Color Vibrations, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ, United States
2019
Abstract Expressionism: A Social Revolution, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL, United States
2018
Wildnis, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Wohin das Auge reicht - As Far as the Eye Can See, Museum Würth, Künzelsau, Germany
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
Karel Appel. A Gesture of Color. Paintings and Sculptures, 1947-2004 The Phillips Collection, Washington
Karel Appel Retrospectief / Karel Appel RetrospectiveGemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
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
Karel Appel: Recente Werken, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
2004
Paperworks of Karel Appel National Museum, Belgrade
Karel Appel. New Works on Paper, JG Contemporary, New York
Karel Appel. Onderweg: Reis van Rudi Fuchs langs de Kunst der Lage Landen Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
2002
Karel Appel, Kunstforum Wien, Vienna
Karel Appel: werken op papier, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
2001
Karel Appel: Beelden 1936–2000, Cobra Museum of Modern Art, Amstelveen, The Netherlands
Karel Appel: Pastorale Chiaroscuro, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Karel Appel: Werk op papier, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague
2000
Karel Appel: Recente sculpturen & gedichten, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium
Karel Appel: 2000, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam