Amsterdam, 1921 - Zurich, 2006
Karel Appel met Corneille in the period1940-1943 while studying art at Amsterdam’s prestigious Rijksacademie. In 1946 the two travelled to Liège, where they mounted a joint exhibition in 1947. Appel and Corneille also journeyed to Paris together. On Appel’s return he met Constant and in 1948 he, Constant and Corneille exhibited in Amsterdam.
Together with Anton Rooskens, Theo Wolvecamp and Jan Nieuwenhuys (Constant’s brother) the three went on to form the Dutch Experimental Group on 16 July 1948. On 8 November of that same year Appel helped found CoBrA, and is probably the movement’s best-known member in the Netherlands.
Above all, Appel is famous for describing his work as ‘just mucking about’ – which didn’t endear him to other painters in the expressive style. He created a furore in the Dutch art world of the Forties and Fifties, his 1949 mural Questioning children for the staff restaurant in Amsterdam’s city hall occasioning quite a scandal. Indignant civil servants, rendered uncomfortable by the starving children’s beseeching eyes, insisted the work be covered up and the mural disappeared behind wallpaper for a decade.
Appel always favoured the call to direct expression in paint, rather than the Marxist analysis of Western civilisation propagated by Constant. He had little time for Constant and Dotremont’s theoretical pamphlets, devoting his CoBrA years to painting innocent, childlike creatures and fabulous beasts in bright colours, utilizing simple forms and bold lines.
After CoBrA Appel maintained an emotional approach to his subject. During the Fifties he developed a heavier painting style, with line and areas of colour melting together into evocative swathes of paint. Alongside his paintings, the versatile Appel made assemblages and sculptures, and also wrote poetry. Right up until his death in Zurich on May 3, 2006, Appel remained the hard-working, almost obsessive painter he had always been.
gouache on paper on board
1949
57 x 76 cm
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mixed media on paper
1954
51 x 65 cm
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gouache and collage on paper
1960
66 x 51 cm
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oil on canvas
1965
146 x 114 cm
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oil on canvas
1967
24 x 19 cm
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oil on canvas
1967
130 x 195 cm
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oil on canvas
1974
61 x 92 cm
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oil on canvas
1974
77 x 102 cm
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oil on canvas
1975
38 x 61 cm
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oil on canvas
1976
30 x 24 cm
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mixed media on panel
1984
140 x 215 cm
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lithograph
1958
55 x 75 cm
Edition 50
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lithograph
1959
56 x 75 cm
Edition 115
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lithograph
1960
57 x 76 cm
Edition 125
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lithograph
1960
45 x 65 cm
Edition 125
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lithograph
1960
76 x 56 cm
Edition 100
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lithograph
1961
50 x 40 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1961
50 x 40 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1961
50 x 40 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1961
50 x 40 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1961
50 x 40 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1961
50 x 80 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1961
50 x 80 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1962
60 x 90 cm
Edition 30/50
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lithograph
1963
51 x 51 cm
Edition 115
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lithograph
1963
51 x 51 cm
Edition 125
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lithograph
1963
51 x 51 cm
Edition 125
Price on request
lithograph
1963
51 x 51 cm
Edition 125
Price on request
lithograph
1963
51 x 51 cm
Edition 125
Price on request
lithograph
1963
51 x 51 cm
Edition 125
Price on request
lithograph
1963
51 x 51 cm
Edition 125
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lithograph
1963
51 x 51 cm
Edition 125
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lithograph
1969
54 x 67 cm
Edition 125
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lithograph
1969
55 x 70 cm
Edition 120
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lithograph
1969
56 x 70 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1969
60 x 75 cm
Edition 120
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lithograph
1977
38 x 56 cm
Edition 75
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lithograph
1977
55 x 75 cm
Edition 160
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screenprint
1977
70 x 84 cm
Edition 140
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screenprint
1977
49 x 49 cm
Edition 300
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screenprint
1977
49 x 49 cm
Edition 300
Price on request
screenprint
1977
49 x 49 cm
Edition 300
Price on request
screenprint
1977
49 x 49 cm
Edition 300
Price on request
screenprint
1977
49 x 49 cm
Edition 300
Price on request
screenprint
1977
49 x 49 cm
Edition 300
Price on request
screenprint
1977
85 x 70 cm
Edition 100
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screenprint
1977
85 x 70 cm
Edition 100
Price on request
screenprint
1977
85 x 70 cm
Edition 100
Price on request
screenprint
1977
85 x 70 cm
Edition 100
Price on request
screenprint
1977
85 x 70 cm
Edition 100
Price on request
screenprint
1977
85 x 70 cm
Edition 100
Price on request
screenprint
1977
85 x 70 cm
Edition 100
Price on request
screenprint
1978
43 x 63 cm
Edition 250
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lithograph
1978
55 x 75 cm
Edition 160
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screenprint
1978
55 x 75 cm
Edition 175
Price on request
screenprint
1978
55 x 75 cm
Edition 160
Price on request
screenprint
1978
55 x 75 cm
Edition 175
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wood engraving
1978
76 x 57 cm
Edition 130
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wood engraving
1978
76 x 57 cm
Edition 130
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wood engraving
1978
76 x 57 cm
Edition 130
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etching
1978
30 x 22 cm
Edition 50
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aquatint, etching
1978
41 x 61 cm
Edition 75
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aquatint, etching
1980
116 x 131 cm
Edition 80
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screenprint
1982
63 x 77 cm
Edition 100
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screenprint
1985
43 x 31 cm
Edition 50
Price on request
screenprint
1986
52 x 62 cm
Edition 24
Price on request