Karel Appel

Karel Appel (Amsterdam, 1921 – Zurich, 2006) was one of the leading figures of post-war European avant-garde art and a founding member of the CoBrA movement, one of the most radical and influential artistic groups of the twentieth century. Trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam, Appel developed an instinctive, raw, and highly expressive visual language from the very beginning of his career, deliberately rejecting academic conventions.

His work is characterized by bold colors, energetic gestures, and primal figures, drawing inspiration from children’s art, folk traditions, and archaic forms. During the 1950s and 1960s, Appel achieved international recognition, exhibiting in major museums and participating in landmark exhibitions that helped redefine the role of expressive painting in post-war Europe.

Today, his work is widely regarded as a cornerstone of European expressionism and is included in the permanent collections of major institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.